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Norfolk Southern Corp. recently released its fourth annual sustainability report, which shows the Class I achieved nearly 40 percent of its five-year greenhouse-gas emissions reduction goal during the first year.

The 2011 report describes the railroad’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint and tracks ongoing initiatives to achieve industry leadership in fuel conservation, emissions reduction, efficient energy use, recycling, use of renewable materials and environmental partnerships, NS officials said in a prepared statement.

The Class I reduced greenhouse-gas emissions by 3.9 percent per revenue ton-mile of freight in 2010. The railroad has set a goal to lower emissions by 10 percent per revenue ton-mile by 2014. In addition, NS last year improved the energy efficiency of its office and railroad facilities, increased employee-led recycling programs and launched an initiative to plant more than 6 million trees in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley as part of carbon mitigation efforts, according to the report.

"We recognize that our continued ability to thrive as a business is connected to the health of our communities, our environment, our employees and our economy," said NS Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Wick Moorman. “In acknowledgement of this common future, we are strengthening our connections with communities and the environment to ensure that the impact we leave — social, economic and environmental — will be a positive one for years to come.”