At London Climate Action Week 2026, UIC contributed to the international dialogue on transport, energy, and climate finance discussions, with multiple events addressing low-carbon transport investment, energy security, resilience, and links to the COP31 agenda. The growing, city-wide event is serving as an increasingly important platform for strategic discussion and amid heat warnings issued across London and much of Europe, the need for climate action felt more pressing than ever.
On 24 June 2026, the Mitigation Action Facility hosted the Transport Policy Roundtable Breakfast at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero in London. The session focused on the enabling conditions for scaling low-carbon transport investment and examined how policy instruments, regulatory frameworks, and enabling conditions determine whether low-carbon transport investments are prepared, bankable, and scalable. Also highlighted were key issues such as governance gaps at subnational level, the role of industrial and innovation policy, and how international climate finance can better support the transport sector. UIC emphasised the under-exploited opportunity of carbon markets for the catalytic funding of sustainable transport investment such as rail and other public transport modes. These discussions were closely related to UIC’s advocacy priorities of accelerating sustainable rail investment and promoting the role of rail in delivering climate objectives.
On the same day, at the session on ‘Accelerating the Implementation of Resilient and Adaptive Transport Infrastructure’, experts from the International Coalition for Sustainable Infrastructure (ICSI), the Global Covenant of Mayors for Climate and Energy (GCoM), and UIC came together to discuss how resilient transport systems can be planned, financed, and delivered in ways that strengthen communities, work alongside nature, and are prepared for a changing climate. The UIC- coordinated Europe’s Rail Joint Undertaking (EU-Rail) project ‘SYstemic Mobilisation for Joint Biodiversity and Infrastructure’ (SYMBIOSIS) was a key topic of discussion in demonstrating how rail infrastructure can use its lineside green infrastructure as an asset to manage climate hazards such as flooding, landslides, and extreme heat while also benefiting nature.
On 25 June 2026, the Transport-Energy Nexus session took place at the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Foundation in London. The session addressed energy security, resilience, and the role of renewables in transport. A moderated discussion focused on bottlenecks and solutions, including governance and planning silos, policy misalignment, the money and bankability gap, as well as grid readiness.
UIC highlighted that rail is the mode with the highest use of renewables and is highly electrified, however this is regionally variable. Sustained investment in electrification, with a modal shift, would significantly benefit the phasing out of fossil fuels in transport. When rail and renewable energy expansion is planned together strategically, better connectivity and energy security can both be accelerated.
These events at London Climate Action Week both brought attention to the structural conditions needed to accelerate cleaner transport: stronger planning, better governance, more effective finance, and closer coordination between energy and transport systems. They also reinforced UIC’s role as a global platform, bringing together railway expertise to support the climate transition and advocate for sustainable transport solutions.
London Climate Action Week therefore marked an important milestone in the UIC Advocacy Plan, ahead of the Investment and Financing Solutions for Africa’s Railway Future Forum, jointly organised by UIC and Moroccan National Railways (ONCF) on 14-15 October 2026, and COP31 in Antalya in November.
The discussions held and partnerships developed during the week will help to build momentum in reaching these major international milestones and further strengthen UIC’s advocacy efforts.
