Environment and Assesment - Sustainability
What is sustainable development?
The concept of ‘sustainable development’ was first officially recognised in 1987. People around the world have more recently realised that we have to look beyond economic progress if we are to achieve sustainable societies. Sustainable development is commonly defined as ‘Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’ (Brundtland Commission; definition used by IPCC Working Group II).
Australia’s National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development defines sustainable development as 'Using, conserving and enhancing the community's resources so that ecological processes, on which life depends, are maintained, and the total quality of life, now and in the future, can be increased' (Australia’s National Strategy for Ecologically Sustainable Development).
Sustainability at Transport Projects
We are committed to moving towards sustainability and achieving its corporate vision of ‘Working in partnership to deliver innovative and sustainable transport solutions that make NSW a great place to live and work’. As part of this move towards sustainability, a Green Paper was prepared on our behalf to develop world’s best-practice environmental and sustainability targets for the organisation. A final set of corporate and project targets were signed off by the Board of Directors in September 2008, committing us to the implementation of these targets. A review of these targets will be undertaken during 2012.
Our sustainability targets address eight themes relating to sustainability:
- Managing the process
- Climate change and energy
- Materials and waste
- Water conservation
- Biodiversity and heritage
- Pollution control
- Community amenity/benefit
- Value for money.
Further information is available in our Sustainability Targets pdf (9.9MB) publication.
Transport for NSW and RailCorp have also produced the NSW Sustainable Design Guidelines for Rail Version 2.0. These guidelines introduce a range of sustainability outcomes initiatives to improve the sustainability performance of transport infrastructure and reinforce Transport for NSW ongoing commitment to sustainability.
NSW Sustainable Design Guidelines for Rail Version 2.0 (pdf 1.65MB)
NSW Sustainable Design Guidelines for Rail Version 2.0 Appendix D (pdf 382KB)
NSW Sustainable Design Guidelines for Rail Version 2.0 Appendix E (pdf 98KB)
NSW Sustainable Design Guidelines for Rail Version 2.0 Checklist (xls 2.63MB)
Last updated 13th September 2012
The documents on this page do not comply with WCAG 2.0. If you are having trouble accessing information in a document, please contact sustainability@transport.nsw.gov.au.
Useful Links
Office of Environment and Heritage 
NSW Office of Water
NSW Trade and Investment
Travel Smart Victoria
Sustainability Victoria
Resource Smart
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities
Travel Smart Australia
Last updated 07 May 2013
