tpg's contribution to sustainable development

tpg is one of the pioneers in sustainable development, which has been one of the company's driving values for many years. We actively contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for a better planet. First of all, we do so through our raison d'être, since our activity consists in bringing together mobility that, without public transport, would have 167,000 more cars on the streets of Geneva, the equivalent of 19 times the use of the bypass motorway! But also through a whole series of concrete actions that make our commitment real.

The tpg is working with the Hospice général to offer people entitled to supplementary benefits (SPC) an annual season ticket for CHF 66. This represents around 15% of our annual season tickets. In so doing, they are helping to make mobility accessible to all, even the most needy.

At tpg we promote local agriculture and local commerce. We require our suppliers and event partners to respect the principles of sustainable development. 

Our goal is to fight against waste, promote more responsible consumption and promote the health of our employees.

• We require our company restaurant to be GRTA labeled (Geneva Region – Terre Avenir).
• Our suppliers and event partners must sign our declaration of commitment to respect the principles of sustainable development, adhere to it and implement it.

Quality of life

Concerned about the quality of life at work of our employees, we have developed a modern and benevolent methodology that allows us to take responsibility and feel heard and supported.

• Management staff are trained with a view to benevolent management and conscientious leadership.
• Staff may call on an in-house trained counsellor to support the development of the capacity to act in the workplace.
• The Trust Group of the State of Geneva and other bodies specialized in support can be requested by our staff if necessary.
• Training is available for employees to strengthen their skills, including managing stress and building constructive interpersonal relationships.
• Offers and activities to strengthen the well-being and good health of all are offered to the tpg staff: yoga classes, professional massage sessions in our premises, distribution of fruit and vegetable baskets on request, discounts for sports centers, etc.

Security

tpg put in place preventive, reactive and coercive measures to guarantee the safety of all, through actions on the different audiences:

• Awareness-raising operations for our customers are organized, especially for the elderly and people with reduced mobility, through communication media or practical workshops In addition, a team dedicated to safety and security acts daily to prevent, raise awareness and enforce the measures put in place on the network. We should also note regular communications to raise awareness of topics related to safety on board our vehicles.
• Our teams regularly visit schools to raise awareness among younger generations about the safety issues related to transport.
• Our driving staff is sensitized monthly on the at-risk places and the right actions to adopt in the event of an accident. Accident training for the driving staff involved is also provided.
   

tpg encourages continuous learning, employee training, youth training and individual development, through three major axes:

• Initial vocational training takes place at tpg for about thirty apprentices, accompanied by our supervisory staff throughout their training course.
• Higher vocational training aims to enable the acquisition of the qualifications essential for the exercise of a complex professional activity or involving high responsibilities.
• Continuing education and specialized courses aim to maintain and acquire new skills in a logic of employability and coherence with the needs of the company. In 2021, continuing education averaged 4.4 days/employee.

tpg was the first Swiss public transport company to offer certified training, recognized by the Office for Guidance, Vocational and Continuing Education, to anyone engaged in driving since 2017 and having successfully completed the tpg training course. This course is validated by obtaining the driver's certificate in public transport.

tpg works for the equality and integration of women at all hierarchical levels of the company as well as in all professions.

Composition of staff

As of 31.12.2021, 13.8% of tpg staff are women. While this figure is still modest and reflects the difficulties in attracting women to certain professions, it is gradually evolving (+3.8% compared to 2020, +32.7% since 2012).

Between 2012 and 2021, the number of women was stable in administration (42% vs. 42.1%) while it evolved significantly for operations (8% vs. 10.7%) and technical work (3% vs. 4.3%).

Two women act as chairs of the company's Board of Directors, which is 25% female. In addition, 13% of company executives are women, including 28% of the Executive College.

• We hire based on the skills and prerequisites of the position, regardless of any other criteria.
• We value the presence of women in certain professions such as that of ticket controller through our communications and events.

Inclusive communication

tpg is committed to communicating in a way that is respectful of all types of diversity. As a result, in 2021 it decided to adopt the principles of inclusive writing so that no woman feels excluded from issues related to mobility and our company.

In addition, we strive to send out communications where gender, age, cultural, ethnic and social diversity is represented in a balanced way.

Exemplary customer relations

tpg wishes to display an exemplary attitude on major societal issues such as the attention paid to the safety of all our passengers, the consideration of the needs of each and every one and the assurance of respect for all the diversities by our communities.

We intend to develop zero tolerance practices against any form of abuse or harassment within our infrastructures.

Exemplary staff relations

In its quest to be an exemplary employer, tpg strives to eliminate all forms of discriminatory practice and to offer a healthy working environment to all its employees. It applies a wage policy that is independent of people and therefore egalitarian.

• tpg regularly communicates on issues related to harassment and trains any new employee in this theme. It invites those who consider themselves to be at the heart of a conflict or the subject of inappropriate language to call on the services of the Geneva State Confidence Group, among other resources made available to staff.
• tpg offers advantageous conditions for childbirth beyond the legal requirements for paternity leave.
• It promotes remote work among all eligible colleagues, in the spirit of a better work-life balance.
   

Vehicle maintenance, including washing, requires a significant use of water. It takes 300 liters to wash a tram and 200 liters for a bus.

• All our washing tunnels are equipped with a water recovery, purification and recycling system. We manage to recycle more than 70% of wash water to reuse it on other vehicles.
• Our washing strategy is to wash vehicles only when they are visibly dirty (e.g. rainy days, wet roads).
• Since 2020, counters dedicated to washing tunnels have made it possible to know more precisely our weekly consumption as well as the number of washing cycles carried out.

tpg is fully committed to energy transition. We are involved daily in consuming less and better.

Consuming less

tpg is committed to eco21, the SIG energy saving program, and Energy Savers. We have implemented energy performance actions aimed at reducing the company's electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

• The development of our infrastructures and buildings contains savings objectives defined in terms of KWh consumed. They are monitored annually by the Energy Agency for the Economy.

• We reduce our carbon footprint in construction and energy use in our buildings. We have invested in recent years to drastically reduce our environmental impact.
• At Bachet-de-Pesay, we replaced the light fixtures and then redesigned the heating circulators and radiators (-557,000 kWh/year).
• We intervened in the workshops to optimize the ventilation of pits and paint booths (-141,175 kWh/year).
• We have renewed the boilers used, including a share of renewable energies in heat production, with the addition of a wood-pellet boiler.

Consuming better

The tpg fleet consists of more than 450 vehicles, half of which run on electric power. The electricity consumed by our company is of 100% renewable hydraulic origin.

We have included in our Cap 2030 corporate strategy our desire to operate a 100% electric fleet by the end of the decade. The electrification of our vehicles will improve air quality in the Geneva urban area and reduce the noise registered on our streets.

tpg contributes to solar photovoltaic production in Geneva, with a total capacity of more than 2 GWh per year, equivalent to the consumption of 650 households:

• The En Chardon power plant is equipped with some 5,000 m² of solar panels, for an annual production of 1 GWh. The energy produced is used in its entirety for the operation of the site.
• The Bachet-de-Pesay solar power plant, with 5,500 m² of photovoltaic panels, produces more than 840 MWh per year.
• Our trolleybus depot in La Jonction is covered with 2,300 m² of panels, for an annual production of 220 MWh. The electricity produced there is injected into the Plainpalais substation and directly feeds our trolleybuses and trams. This energy allows a trolleybus to travel nearly 100,000 km or a tram to travel more than 50,000 km.

We ensure strict pay equality by using a single company-wide pay scale, published annually. The salary mechanisms defined in the company's articles of association apply across the board to all staff.

We support the right to union representation with the recognition of 4 active social partners at the tpg who meet with management on a monthly basis. Joint statutory commissions (e.g. vehicle commission, occupational health and safety commission, timetable commission, etc.) are also active in monitoring the status of the issues assigned to them, and proposing adjustments where necessary.

We also work to promote the reintegration of jobseekers from the OCE, Hospice général and OCAS (AI), including for temporary assignments. In 2020, 40% of those recruited were job-seekers, rising to 25% in 2021 and 36% in 2022.

Finally, we promote culture through support for various events by means of heavily discounted transport or in-house offers for various events (e.g. concerts, theater, sport, etc.).

Since 2018, tpg has been experimenting with autonomous driving technologies and participating in the European research project AVENUE (Autonomous Vehicles to Evolve to a New Urban Experience. We are convinced that this service is a relevant solution in areas where transport demand is diffuse and conventional regular lines are not very efficient.

Following on from the  AVENUE project, the 4-years ULTIMO project aims to lay the foundations and deploy the very first automated, on-demand, economically realistic and viable public transport solution. It aims to achieve driverless operation.

People with disabilities and the elderly are the subject of special attention from tpg, who wants them to maintain adequate mobility and autonomy in the various situations of everyday life. The same goes for people who travel with luggage or strollers.

Preparing their trip

• tpg website was designed in partnership with an association of the visually impaired, to ensure accessibility issues. A majority of the pages offer adapted content.
• "Mobility for all", the personalized and free support service of the Foyer Handicap Foundation, in partnership with tpg, helps people with difficulties travel alone. Volunteers pick them up, help them get their tickets and assist them throughout the journey and to their destination.
• We also raise awareness to facilitate the accompaniment of seniors in their daily lives. For example, tpg participates several times a year in Avivo workshops as well as in the ATE's "Being and Staying Mobile" class, where older people receive advice on how to travel by public transport.

During their travel

• The passenger information terminals offer a contrast adapted to people with impaired vision.
• When at a stop, visually impaired people with equipment provided by tpg can request that a voice message outside the vehicle to announce the number of the line and the destination.
• The floor of the vast majority of our vehicles is at the direct level of the platforms.
• If necessary, ramps can be deployed to allow access to our vehicles in all circumstances. Our driving staff is trained to pay special attention to these situations.
• On board the vehicles, we announce the main connections as we approach high-traffic stops.
• When boarding or getting out of a vehicle, the blue button on the second door provides additional safety to those who need it: automatic door closing is canceled, and it is the driver's responsibility to ensure that the door is released before activating the manual closing.
   

Thanks to the dense tpg network, offering attractive frequency, the population has permanent access to a public transport offer that makes mobility accessible to all, at a particularly affordable price of CHF 1.37/day when you have an annual subscription – CHF 1.10 for young people and seniors.

• The constant extension of our network accompanies the construction of new neighborhoods to allow its new inhabitants to move in an eco-responsible way, promoting public transport.
• We are developing a multimodal offer, which makes it possible to optimize travel by adapting your means of transport to the situation.

In 2019, a study carried out by researchers from the social science office Mobil'homme made it possible to assess the societal added value of tpg. Their approach made it possible to identify that, for every million invested by the public authorities in our company, 1.18 million Swiss francs were reinvested in the community:

• Land and real estate capital gain. When a building is in the immediate vicinity of a public transport axis, its real estate value is strongly impacted. This impact is estimated at more than
  CHF 271,000*.
• Time savings. Compared to the concentration required for a motorist, anyone traveling by public transport saves a considerable amount of time every day. They can rest or devote time to leisure or work. These time savings are estimated at CHF 418,000*.
• Environmental benefits. Public transport contributes to developing quality of life, as it replaces many polluting vehicles. The collective plays a major role in terms of sustainable development. The impact on the environment and quality of life is estimated at CHF 180,000*.
• Purchasing power. Public transport is much more economical than transport by car. The savings for people using public transport are estimated at CHF 309,000*.

* per million francs invested by the public authorities, low estimate
 

We are concerned about chemicals and waste management. The care we place in the recycling and reclamation of professional materials is the same we demand from our suppliers, with whom we share values regarding sustainability.

Waste management

• Thanks to the numerous recovery spaces on our sites, paper, batteries, aluminum, scrap, stainless steel, brass and copper are sold to various specialized companies.
• tpg is committed to reducing paper consumption. For example, digital transport tickets save more than 3 tons of paper.
• In 2019, some 729 m² of tarpaulins ordered as part of the annual schedule change were recycled. The 1,700 eco-responsible products created by Geneva associations were sold in tpg agencies.
• When a vehicle reaches the end of its cycle and needs to be removed from the grid, we recycle the various disassembled parts that can be transferred to other vehicles still in operation. Suppliers who recover removed vehicles are committed to managing their recycling in a sustainable manner.
• We contribute to the circular economy platform and the sustainable development platform of Geneva's autonomous public institutions.
• Our ISO 14001 certification on the environment reflects our commitments.
   

Chemicals

• All the pipes in our three maintenance centers collect wastewater in holding tanks. Each center is equipped with a water treatment plant in order to discharge out of our walls only already treated water.

The tpg are committed to innovative and eco-responsible mobility solutions, they aim to have a fleet of 100% electric vehicles by 2030. This strategy is fully in line with the cantonal climate plan 2030. To achieve this objective, they have decided to issue a green bond to finance the renewal and extension of their fleet through the acquisition of fully electric vehicles. tpg Green Bond is dedicated to accessibility and the promotion of sustainable transport with low carbon emissions.

In order to meet its commitments, tpgs have drafted a green bond framework in line with the ICMA Green Bond Principles (GBP) 2021. tpg commit to scrupulously respect the allocation of funds according to the framework provided ( use of proceeds). In this sense, an internal committee has been created to guarantee the proper management of the project.

Each year, tpg will publish a fund allocation report and an impact report demonstrating the proper execution of the project, the resulting indicators will be included in the annual management report.

These data are reviewed annually by an independent reviewer.

Green Bond

Download here the green bond framework and the independent auditor's year-by-year report.