Mass_Transit_June_2021 - 30

LTD's Triple Bottom
Sustainability
T
HE LANE TRANSIT DIStrict's
(LTD) sustainability
efforts date back to 2007 when
the board adopted its first Sustainability
Policy. The policy
committed the district to
pursue action in the following
four areas: provide quality service;
use environmentally friendly
vehicles; construct earth friendly
projects; and use sustainable operating
practices.
Since then, the district has made
strides in making these goals a reality
by using a triple bottom line
approach, which identifies the three
components of sustainability as financial,
environmental and social
equity. The financial aspect looks at
being responsible stewards of financial
resources; the environmental
aspect considers LTD's impacts and
how efficient impact reduction efforts
are to the physical and natural
environment; and the social equity
aspect examines the community,
employees, stakeholders and riders
to ensure their health and safety,
explains Kelly Hoell, LTD sustainability
program manager.
While LTD has been using this
triple bottom line approach for
more than a decade, Hoell's position
has only been around since
2018. Hoell notes this was the first
time LTD had a paid position that
focused on its sustainability program.
It was created to provide
the resources and human power
needed to collaborate across departments
on various initiatives.
" By creating a position that
could coordinate between all of
those efforts and have that as a
primary piece of their work, then
it could sustain momentum and
make sure that things were continuing
to move forward at the
pace the organization desired, "
Hoell explained.
Hoell, who has a degree in
environmental science, brings a
unique skillset to the position-a
skillset that is not normally within
a transit agency, shares LTD General
Manager Aurora Jackson.
" Based on her environmental
background, and adapting it to
public transportation, she's really
had to do things that other
transit agencies have not done, "
Jackson said.
A prime example is the greenhouse
gas (GHG) inventory Hoell
conducted to understand transit's
impacts on the environment, as
well as the benefits it brings to the
community. The inventory examined
not just the fuel types being
used, but the life cycle of the vehicles,
how the vehicles are produced
and the entire production cycle of
the fuel types, to name a few.
For example, the inventory not
only measured life cycle emissions
from LTD's electric buses, but it
also examined LTD's indirect
emissions from its purchased
electricity for its own use.
" Because the last thing you
want is fossil fuel to be powering
your electricity because then
30 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | JUNE 2021
" Our goal is that social equity is
at the forefront of our decision making
on how we deploy our fleet. "
- AURORA JACKSON, general manager, LTD
you're not making a difference, "
Jackson said.
The GHG inventory results
were released in September 2019
and underlined two big takeaways.
First, the number one
thing LTD can do to address climate
change is to take as many
cars as possible off the road by
increasing transit ridership. The
second most important thing
the report revealed was that " we
could focus on reducing the carbon
intensity of our owned fleet
vehicles, " Hoell said.
Intentionally Setting
Fleet Transition Goals
Knowing these two things led the
LTD Board to adopt an updated
climate action policy statement
with fleet procurement goals in
June 2020. The policy directed
the district to reduce its GHG
emissions by 75 percent over
the next 10 years and
eliminate its use of fossil
fuels in its fleet over the
next 15 years. The board
created short- and longterm
goals to get there.
The first short-term
goal the board outlined
for LTD said that
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