On 18 September 2026, the VAlue of LOw carbon and RAil assessment (VALORail) project was officially launched at the UIC headquarters in Paris during a hybrid kick-off meeting. Coordinated by UIC and funded by the European Union through Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail), the project brings together nine partners from five countries to address the challenge of improve rail’s access to climate finance.
The project will run for 30 months. Its objective is to develop practical tools and recommendations that can help the railway sector better access climate finance, including carbon markets. VALORail will focus on the underuse of climate finance in the rail sector, despite rail’s strong contribution to low carbon transport and wider sustainability benefits.
François Davenne, UIC Director General, joined the meeting to emphasise the relevance of VALORail for both UIC and the railway sector as a whole, highlighting the growing importance of climate finance in UIC’s activities. He described the project as a key tool for overcoming current challenges:
"VALORail is important because it addresses the paradox at the heart of our industry: we know that rail has a massive, positive impact on decarbonisation and economic growth, yet we struggle to leverage those societal benefits to unlock tangible financing. This project will allow us to identify how to better capture that value and secure the investment needed for a transport paradigm shift."
The consortium includes: UIC (coordinator), the Spanish Railway Infrastructure Manager (ADIF), Spanish National Railway Network (RENFE), INECO (Spanish transport engineering and economics firm), Jernhusen (Swedish railway property company), Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy, the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI), Alstom Transport, and Siemens Mobility.
The meeting also provided a first opportunity to bring together the project’s Advisory Board, set up to help steer and inform the project over the next 2 and a half years. As of now, confirmed Advisory Board members include the Carbon Market Watch Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies (CER), German railways (DB), Environmental Resources Management (ERM), Intraplan, Polis, the French National Railways (SNCF), the International Union of Public Transport (UITP), Transport & Environment (T&E) and European Rail Supply Industry Association (UNIFE).
The Advisory Board shared feedback on the project work areas:
Climate finance instruments and strategies: analysing the challenges and opportunities in rail finance and reviewing climate and sustainable finance instruments for rail.
Investment criteria, standardised methodologies, and reporting standards: developing tools, guidance and a common glossary to support harmonised reporting and better alignment with climate finance requirements.
Carbon credits and other financing opportunities linked to carbon accounting: analysing rail’s potential in carbon markets and developing recommendations for standardised methodologies and results-based climate finance.
The new consortium group have started working together on the project, focusing on detailed planning for project milestones and deliverables, as well as coordinating tasks, stakeholder engagement, and implementation.
VALORail marks a new step towards the decarbonisation of Europe’s transport system and aligns with broader European climate goals. By building on previous research, including UIC’s white papers Bridging the Rail finance Gap and Carbon markets and Rail, VALORail aims to tackle the underutilisation of climate finance in the rail sector.
UIC is proud to be the coordinator for this project, with Alina Neculae as VALORail project manager.
Grant Agreement No 101323996.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinion expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them. The project VALORail is supported by the Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking and its members.
