About RailEI
Sustainability
The goal
Since the 2015 publication of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, there has been an active global effort to reduce carbon emissions and create a sustainable future for our world ecosystems. Our industry has championed sustainability for more than 20 years and great work has been done towards decarbonisation. However, the scale and importance of the issue, and the urgency with which it must be addressed, cannot be understated. Much more must be done if we are to limit the environmental and ecological damage that increasing levels of atmospheric CO2 will inflict on our planet, and to adapt railway infrastructure to be highly resilient in the face of climate change.
Nationally, emissions from transport are now the UK’s largest contributor of CO2 and the sector’s rate of emissions reduction is low. Plans for the complete electrification of the UK rail network, using either fixed equipment or battery/fuel cell technology, will significantly help to improve the situation, but our industry’s biggest potential to drive emissions reduction is through modal transfer: persuading passenger and freight road users to transfer all or part of their journey to rail.
"The RailEI cannot create modal shift alone, but we can start the debate and help create a picture of how such shift might be facilitated."
Stephen Barber, RailEI CEO
Acting as a community
Time for change
The RailEI community possesses detailed understanding of high efficiency electrically powered transport and railway infrastructure, making us very well placed to work with other PEIs, government, economists, social scientists and industry to win the arguments so that the right actions are taken with the urgency necessary.
What are the United Nations saying?
Learn about the 17 Sustainable Development Goals that were published by the UN in 2015 and find out how you can help.
Making a difference
The RailEI Advisory Committee
Engineering and engineers have a critical role to play in defining the policy and physical actions necessary to deliver decarbonisation and avert societal collapse, and to adapt our physical infrastructure to cope with changing weather patterns. To make sure our voice is clearly heard, RailEI has established an Advisory Committee on Climate Change and Decarbonisation chaired by Membership Director & Past President Joan Heery.
Coordinated through the Royal Academy of Engineering, PEIs and Learned Societies, including the RailEI, are setting out to achieve the following:
Capture:
Agree:
Commit:
