Company
SMRT Corporation Ltd
Location
Singapore
Industry
Transport
Solutions
GHG Data Management, ESG Data Management
Latest Sustainability Report
FY2023-2024
Background
SMRT is Singapore’s major MRT and leading public transport operator, providing more than 2.5 million train and bus rides daily. Serving Singapore’s public transport needs through its network, SMRT provides the most sustainable mode of transportation in Singapore through their Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) trains.
As Singapore has limited renewable energy resources, SMRT faces challenges in their decarbonization and sustainability journeys.
To promote better use of public transport and enhancing lifestyles, SMRT continues to improve accessibility so that more people can utilize public transport and thereby reduce their reliance on private vehicles.
As part of the Singapore Green Plan 2030, the Land Transport Master Plan (LTMP), and Temasek’s Portfolio Goals, SMRT continues to put more effort into decarbonization including their value chain partners.
SMRT’s Kaizen principle for sustainability
As part of their continuous improvement efforts, they are expanding the application of the Kaizen mindset and methodology to enhance sustainability, known as Kaizen for Sustainability. The primary aim of Kaizen is to eliminate ‘Muda’ or waste, thereby directly reducing their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions.
By integrating Kaizen principles with sustainability strategies such as ‘Reduce’, ‘Reuse’, and ‘Recycle’, alongside newer approaches such as ‘Repair’, ‘Refuse’, and ‘Rethink’, their Kaizen initiatives for FY23/24 resulted in 139 Kaizen for Sustainability projects. These endeavors have not only advanced environmental stewardship but also yielded significant cost savings, totaling S$7.2 million. Notable projects include automatic logging of Smoke Extraction Fans air-flow data, enhancing in-house repair capabilities, and use of more cost-effective alternative air filters.
Through their Kaizen principle and focus on decarbonization, they constantly strive to make continuous progress in their sustainability journey. However, they understand that to make improvements, they need to measure their data and address high priority areas accordingly.
“At SMRT, we take pride in our continuous progress towards sustainability. It is important for us to find the right solution partner that understands our ambitions, goals, and plans. We believe Zuno Carbon has the capabilities and understanding to help us move forward in our sustainability efforts”
Gan Boon Jin
Group Chief Sustainability Officer
The challenges in using manual legacy workflows
Managing sustainability data is no easy task for SMRT – as they have more than 10 business units, 700 data points, and 30 people responsible for entering ESG data based on the GHG Protocol and GRI Standards. Finding valuable insights to inform their decarbonization efforts would require accurate and comprehensive data with a single source of truth.
Prior to using Zuno Carbon, the sustainability team at SMRT collected data manually using spreadsheets, which comes with its set of challenges:
1. Large set of data points coming from different sources
With different fleets, fuel and electricity consumption by various assets, assets to track, and business activities, the scale of data to measure quickly turned into a daunting task.
2.Complexity due to multiple layers of data ownership
Collecting, organizing, and calculating emissions data can be complex due to the multitude of sources and formats. Certain ESG or GHG data does not just sit with one person or one team but can cut across multiple teams.
3. Inefficiencies due to accuracy issues, human errors, and version control
Another issue was the scalability of the sustainability team’s manual efforts. Using spreadsheet documents soon proved inadequate as data volumes increased, leading to manual entry errors, inefficiencies, and version control problems.
Driving digital transformation for their sustainability efforts
As part of an organization-wide digital transformation effort, the sustainability team decided to undergo a change in how they are managing their sustainability data and ESG initiatives. SMRT called for a Request for Proposal (RFP) that included 9 solution providers and consultants.
Zuno Carbon’s Veridis platform stood out due to three main considerations:
1. End-to-end solution that measures GHG emissions and ESG performance data
One of the key requirements of the SMRT team is the ability to manage both GHG and ESG data on one platform seamlessly.
2. Workflows to suit their data collection needs and auditability
To address the complexity with their legacy ways of working, another consideration is being able to transform the way they collect data and assign responsibilities. SMRT appreciated Veridis’ flexible setup of data responsibilities, AI-assisted workflows, and data logs, supplemented by SMRT’s internal Data Collection Procedures – ultimately leading to their final choice to work with us.
3. Dedicated team that provides assistance at every step of the way
Aside from the features within the Veridis platform, the guidance and knowledge showcased by Zuno Carbon’s internal sustainability experts helped to cement SMRT’s decision. Our internal sustainability experts answered every question about implementation, best practices, and future plan that helped to reassure SMRT’s team.
Intuitive processes for sustainability data using Zuno Carbon’s solution
With Veridis, we’ve been able to improve the efficiency and accuracy of our sustainability data management processes. We have seen a reduction in manual workload and saved valuable time. The team working with us has also been accommodative and responsive to our suggestions and feedback, which makes for a robust collaboration.
Tifanny Dwijaya Hendratama
ESG Manager
The solution that we implemented for SMRT covers mainly four themes below
On top of regular data management and insights gathering, these are the implementation outcomes to be achieved in our collaboration:
- Completed Scope 1, 2, and 3 inventory and ESG metrics
- Streamlined collection of Scope 2 and Scope 3 Categories 1-7 data
- Discovered data gaps and enhanced data connectivity
- Identified more effective data collection methods
- Created workflows for collection of quantitative social & governance data
- Collected and parsed ESG metrics across frameworks such as GRI
- Reduced manual intervention for GHG data sources across all Business Units
To learn more about how Zuno Carbon can help your organization in managing complex ESG workflows, contact us below:
Kim Tan
+65 9755 3203
k.tan@zunocarbon.com
.webp)
.webp)
