Blackrock woman wins Irish Rail sustainability award

A Cork city woman has been named as the winner of the Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) sustainability person of the year award.

Emma Love from Blackrock has been recognised for her leadership and impact in embedding sustainability across the Cork Area Commuter Rail Programme (CACR).

The award is part of the Iarnród Éireann inaugural sustainability awards, established to recognise individuals, teams and suppliers delivering environmental and social value across the organisation and its supply chain.

Ms Love, in her work as community, stakeholder and environmental manager for the CACR programme, has delivered results including the avoidance of more than 41,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions, major material reuse initiatives, reductions in embodied carbon, high levels of waste diversion and increased adoption of low carbon fuels.

Along with environmental performance, she has also championed education, biodiversity, inclusion and community engagement initiatives which aim to deliver long term social value across the Cork region.

Trophies from recycled material

The award trophies presented to Emma and other category winners were created from recycled railway materials in partnership with a Men’s Shed group based in Mountjoy Prison.

Mary Considine, chief executive at Iarnród Éireann, said she acknowledges their responsibility in developing a sustainable transport network.

“Iarnród Éireann is a critical part of our national infrastructure, moving thousands of people and goods across the county each day. Therefore we have an obligation to ensure that we do so in the most sustainable manner possible.

“Our sustainability awards recognise the achievements our suppliers and our internal teams are making as part our transition to a carbon free transport operation model in line with our Rail 2050 strategy.

“My sincere congratulations to Emma, a worthy winner of the inaugural individual award, all the winners from within Iarnród Éireann and to our external suppliers.”

The Cork Area Commuter Rail programme is a key part of the Cork Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy (CMATS) 2040, developed by the National Transport Authority and in partnership with Cork City and County Councils and Transport Infrastructure Ireland.