NS aims for sustainable procurement
Sustainable accessibility of the Netherlands. For and by everyone. That is what we stand for. For this reason, we’re engaging in fossil-free, circular and green enterprise. In doing so, we contribute to the Paris Agreement and make a significant contribution to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
As a supplier NS, you can help us achieve our sustainability goals. We aim to work transparently to achieve success together. We are looking for suppliers who can realise sustainable improvements and innovations.
Within NS, we have formulated the following five focus areas.
Click on the focus areas for more details:
What is NS doing to operate sustainably?
Since 2017, all our trains have been running on 100% green electricity. Our sustainable procurement policy integrates sustainability into the procurement process—such as considering CO₂ emission reduction when tendering for taxi services. New trains, including the DDNG and S5G, are designed with circularity in mind. In our daily operations, more than fifty people with a distance to the labour market are employed to clean trains, supporting social inclusion. These are just a few examples of how NS strives to operate sustainably. More information about NS’s sustainability efforts can be found here: Sustainability | About NS | NS and in our Annual Report.
What does NS expect from suppliers regarding reporting?
At NS, sustainability is central to our collaboration with suppliers. By sharing relevant data, we can effectively coordinate and improve our joint sustainability efforts. The topics NS currently collects data on are greenhouse gas emissions (as part of our ‘Fossil-free’ focus area), level of circularity, and supply chain transparency. Here you will find further explanation about which data are important for our collaboration.
Data Submission Templates: To properly process the requested data, NS provides data submission templates. There are two types:
- Template sustainability data with materials: To be used when you deliver products during contract execution that NS will own. This template requests information on inflow, CO₂ impact, and country of origin.
- Template sustainability without materials: To be used when you do not deliver products that NS will own. This template requests information on CO₂ impact and country of origin.
What do we do with the data?
We use the data to comply with our reporting obligations and to support sustainability improvements in our products and services. This also means working with suppliers to identify more sustainable alternatives.
The data will be treated confidentially by NS. When reporting on this in our annual report, it will not be presented at the individual supplier level.
With whom does NS collaborate on sustainable procurement?
At NS, we believe that we can only make a significant sustainable impact together with our supply chain partners and other companies in the railway sector. That is why we collaborate with various parties across Europe to promote sustainability. NS is active in partnerships such as ERJU, EuroSpec, Railsponsible, RTR, UIC, and SBTi. These collaborations enable us to effectively create sustainability standards, share best practices, and collectively make a greater impact.
