Canada-based Class I railroad company Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC) have today launched an updated carbon emissions calculator for its combined rail network in Canada, the US and Mexico.

CPKC is encouraging users to estimate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions savings when comparing the CPKC railroads to traditional long-haul trucking.

The updated version of the calculator incorporates new features such as customer-specific shipping details to calculate routes across CPKC's rail network and commodity-specific GHG emissions.

CPKC stated that the calculator also provides information on highway safety and other public advantages of shipping with CPKC's freight rail services.

CPKC president and CEO Keith Creel highlighted the impact that the emissions calculator will make across the region: "This calculator supports our customers across North America in making informed decisions on freight transportation options consistent with their own climate-related strategies and that benefit the environment.

"CPKC believes meaningful climate action includes collaboration, partnerships and engagement with our customers and other stakeholders. Updating our carbon calculator to cover our full combined network allows our customers to be engaged in CPKC's sustainability journey from the start."

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), “rail is the most energy-efficient mode of passenger transport” and in terms of freight transport, "trucks consume significantly more energy per tonne-km than rail or ship transport”.

Furthermore, the launch of the emissions tool aligns with CPKC’s commitment to developing a GHG emissions reduction target aligned with a 1.5⁰C future and supporting the global economy to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.