In December the world’s governments are expected to sign a landmark legal agreement in Paris at the United Nations COP21 Climate Change negotiations. Without more sustainable transport, it will not be possible to achieve the COP21 target of limiting the global temperature rise to two degrees.
For this reason COP21 presents the rail sector with an important opportunity, to highlight rail as an energy efficient transport mode and also to demonstrate how investing in rail and increasing rail market share are an essential part of the solution to climate change. At COP21, UIC will build upon our success at the UN Climate Summit in 2014 where we launched the UIC Low Carbon Rail Transport Challenge. In a message to the 86th UIC General Assembly, the Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon applauded the contribution of UIC members to the Climate Summit, acknowledged that your actions can make a measurable difference and urged us to accelerate our efforts.
“I challenge all railways, especially the major ones, to commit to reporting your progress in an open, transparent manner. The UIC’s systems are ideally placed to take this step toward creating a better future,” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
In response to this challenge by the UN Secretary General, and as a key component of the rail sector contribution to the COP21 Lima Paris Action Agenda, UIC has designed the Railway Climate Responsibility Pledge which mentions global targets for the entire railway sector on energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
The UIC members FS, CFR Calatori, CHSRA, HZ Cargo, VNR and ZSSK Cargo have pledged their commitment. We invite the CEOs of all other UIC members to follow their example, act on the decision taken at the 86th UIC General Assembly and sign the Railway Climate Responsibility Pledge. This positive action by your company will be presented to the United Nations during the Train to Paris high-level event on the evening of 28 November.
The pledge and the required information were sent on 27 August to all CEOs and assistants of UIC members.
