It’s been some time since I last penned an article for the Journal on the work of the Climate Change Adaptation & Decarbonisation Committee. We have made a concerted effort to offer the Journal updates to individuals on the Committee; this works well as it allows opportunities for others to share their perspectives. The Committee has been in existence for well over two years and it’s time therefore for me to step down as Chair and let someone else take on the role.

I’m delighted to announce that Stuart Murphy, one of our Technical Managers, has agreed to take over as Committee Chair. I have no doubt that Stuart will make an excellent Chair, building on from the strong foundations the Committee have already put in place whilst bringing a wealth of experience, a fresh perspective and new ideas to the table.

In 2022, the Committee organised their first technical seminar, Climate Emergency and Decarbonisation; a follow-up seminar is planned for March 2024. Earlier this year the PWI Board challenged the Committee to look beyond the UK Rail industry and see how other countries are coping with the effects of climate change. One of the tenets of our Institution is to seek knowledge from beyond our usual boundaries and share it with a wider audience. We are therefore currently collaborating with people from Australia, Europe and Asia to source papers that will be of interest to our audience based in the UK. This will be complemented with people who are based in the UK but work across the world and have experience of different applications of similar policies, depending on the geography.

The seminar will take place in Manchester where we have a very loyal and well-established audience. This fact has given us the confidence to try a slightly different approach. Rather than the usual set of presentations followed by the Q&A sessions, we are going to run the presentations in the morning and early afternoon, followed by a ‘Question Time’ style debate. Gareth Dennis has enthusiastically agreed to take on the role of Fiona Bruce and I’m sure Gareth will make a fantastic facilitator. A panel of experts made up from morning presenters and industry figures will be available to respond to questions posed by the audience. We are hoping for great debate and lots of audience participation.

As a final note, I would like to draw your attention to the article in the Journal authored by Rhona Marsland and Howard Taylor from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), entitled ‘Regulating a Sustainable Railway – built in the past, present and future’. It’s a very interesting article designed to make readers think and engage in the debate and I think it helps demonstrate the complexity of the subject matter. We previously discussed sustainability and ethics within the Journal (PWI Journal January 2023 Volume 141 Part 1) and the article provided by ORR colleagues continues in the same vein. Well worth a read!