Norfolk Southern has launched its RailGreen solution enabling customers to reduce emissions from their freight rail shipments. RailGreen makes Norfolk Southern the only freight rail operator in the world to offer verified certificates for supply chain emissions reduction.
Shipping by rail versus truck reduces emissions by 75% on average and freight customers can address the remaining 25% of emissions through Rail Green solution. Emissions within a company’s supply chain are one of the hardest to track and tackle. This solution has been developed in collaboration with 123Carbon, an independent platform for book & claim.
“Rail is already the most sustainable way to transport goods over land. RailGreen takes emissions savings to the next level. It reduces customers’ emissions, increases our biofuel use and solves a long-term industry challenge,” Ed Elkins, Norfolk Southern EVP & Chief Commercial Officer, said.
Norfolk Southern’s use of low-carbon biofuel is independently certified, generating RailGreen certificates that customers can purchase to offset emissions within their supply chains. As more certificates are bought, the railway increases its procurement of sustainable biofuels, expanding low-emission operations across its network.
RailGreen solution is designed to be scalable across multiple lanes in Norfolk Southern’s network, allowing shippers to integrate sustainable solutions wherever they move freight on rail. Shippers, logistics providers, and supply chain leaders can take advantage of this industry-first programme.
The solution process uses 123Carbon’s blockchain-backed environmental attribute certificates (EACs) to certify that each ton of reduced CO₂e is uniquely tracked to prevent double counting. End-to-end transparency ensures certificates verify the chain of custody across fuel providers, rail carriers, freight forwarders, and cargo owners. Third-party validation by independent assurance partners verifies carbon-reducing activities against international standards.
“We are proud to partner with Norfolk Southern to deliver verified, transparent emissions reduction to the freight rail industry. RailGreen represents a groundbreaking shift by providing real, measurable supply chain decarbonisation for freight rail,” Jeroen van Heiningen, Managing Director, 123Carbon said.
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