An updated version of the global rail position paper on climate change “Keeping Climate Solutions on Track” was distributed at this year’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 16) in Cancun. The first version was prepared for the Train to Copenhagen campaign in connection with COP 15 last year. The objective of the position paper is to promote the role of rail as a solution to the global climate change challenge. The target audience is the participants of the COP meetings, including the policy and decision-makers and their support teams.

For UIC members the paper offers an overview of the climate change challenge in connection to transport and the framework conditions offered by the UNFCCC.

The updates for COP 16 include among others the UIC Declaration on Sustainable Mobility & Transportation, the latest update from the Railenergy project, the very successful emissions reductions efforts by Russian Railways who have reduced their emissions by 40% within six years and examples from the winners of the UIC Sustainability Awards focusing on mitigation. Furthermore, the role of rail in the UNFCCC framework was of course updated for the COP 16 negotiations. The report was also prepared this year by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) on behalf of UIC.

The update of the global position paper for 2011 will include among others the energy and emissions target outlined in the European Environment Strategy adopted by the UIC Regional Assembly Europe in December, the final results of Railenergy, the UIC study on High Speed and Sustainable Mobility, the current UIC/CER modal shift study and the latest findings of the external costs study.

Keeping Climate Solutions on Track 2010 is available at:
http://www.uic.org/etf/publication/publication-detail.php?code_pub=515