Rail industry sets new benchmark for Climate Resilience

2025 saw the UK’s hottest and sunniest summer on record, and a recent report from the Committee on Climate Change[1] highlighted the need for accelerated action to prepare the UK’s infrastructure for the impact of climate change.

Britain's rail industry is taking steps to advance this.

For the third consecutive year, The Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB) has worked with Climate Sense to complete a cross-industry assessment of climate resilience, using a bespoke climate capacity diagnosis and development tool built specifically for the railway.

The rail industry’s adaptive capacity—the ability of organisations to adjust, respond, and evolve in the face of climate risks—has risen sharply. All 51 participants in the assessment are now at or approaching Response Level 3 (Efficient Management), marking over a 50%% increase in sector-wide activity compared to 2023.

This improvement has been driven by outputs of the Climate Change Adaptation Working Group, including:

• New unified climate scenarios: Climate projections for rail, and consistent bench-marking.
• Climate adaptation being embedded in procurement and delivery processes across the rail sector.
• Industry collaboration and sharing of best practice is accelerating learning between organisations.

Samuel Jones, RSSB Environment Specialist, said:

"This year’s results clearly demonstrate the rail sector’s commitment to building long-term resilience in the face of accelerating climate risks. By embedding adaptation into every aspect of operations and fostering a culture of learning and innovation, we are ensuring that our rail network remains robust and responsive to future challenges.

"The progress seen to date is a testament to the sector’s collaborative spirit and determination to lead on climate adaptation. We encourage more organisations across the rail industry to join this programme in 2026 and help drive even greater resilience for the future.”

To maintain momentum and drive further progress in 2026, RSSB is supporting the industry by:

• Establishing a suite of Climate Change Agreement (CCA) metrics and promoting their adoption, which will empower organisations to more accurately assess their performance in relation to agreed industry objectives. This approach will also facilitate more effective measurement of adaptation and resilience efforts within operations. 
• Supporting organisations in developing strategies for weather resilience and climate adaptation. RSSB’s Weather Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation (WRCCA) Strategy guidance is helping rail organisations seeking to enhance or understand adaptation and resilience and develop their own strategies. 
• Driving adaptation and resilience collaboration through the Climate Change Adaptation Working Group (CCAWG).