Meet the Climate Change Adaptation Working Group
They’re leading industry’s approach to weather resilience and climate change.
Sarah Shooter, Editorial Content Manager, RSSB
This group’s strategy allows rail to assess its progress towards a green, resilient future.
Chair: Natalie Rees, Transport for Wales
Meeting since: 2019
Sessions: Quarterly
Members: 39
Reports to: Sustainable Rail Leadership Group (SRLG)
The stakeholders:
passenger railway undertakings
freight railway undertakings
rolling stock owners and manufacturers
Network Rail and other infrastructure managers
government (Defra and Department for Transport)
Transport Scotland
Transport for Wales
Office of Rail and Road.
The mission: The CCAWG is one of 11 groups under the SLRG. They help tackle each of the flagship goals of the Sustainable Rail Blueprint. The CCAWG’s role is to ensure that rail is prepared for one of the greatest existential threats of our time: climate change.
The work: Every area will be affected by the changing climate, from policy and contracts to investment and operations. The only way to meet that challenge is to work together. To allow meaningful collaboration, the group assesses rail’s progress and looks at ways to reduce its vulnerability to climate change impacts. As a group, they’re subject matter experts for the industry to call on. They share knowledge and case studies, and they give input on new research projects. The CCAWG allows joined-up thinking to happen across all these areas to futureproof our railway.
Climate change will increase the severity and frequency of extreme weather. By working together and planning for this now through policy, research, communication, and better decision making, we can help to provide safer, more reliable, and more resilient services and infrastructure.
The future: One of the projects that the CCAWG have been involved in is the Rail Climate Change Maturity Assessment. This project aims to assess individual and industry-wide adaptive capacity. The CCAWG gathered data from over 40 companies using a bespoke version of the Climate Diagnosis & Development Tool. Each company receives a level rating, as does the industry. In 2023, rail was found to score above average as a sector. The findings of this assessment are available online, and the CCAWG will use them to measure success and steer strategy for the future.
Visit the home of the CCAWG.
Find out more about the group’s remit or get in touch.
Visit CCAWG page
Read the 2024 report for the climate change maturity analysis.
Visit our climate change pages