Adapting to climate change

Climate change is already affecting rail operations. To build a more resilient network, we must understand how prepared the rail industry is to adapt. We need to know where strengths exist, and where further investment and action are required.

This is known as adaptive capacity. It’s an organisation’s ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate impacts and opportunities.

The Rail Adaptive Capacity Assessment

Each year, we work with industry partners to assess the adaptive capacity of the GB rail sector to climate change. The assessment:

  • evaluates climate adaptation progress across organisations
  • identifies barriers and opportunities for improvement
  • tracks changes and trends year-on-year across the sector
  • supports delivery of the ‘Prepared for a Changing Climate’ flagship goal of the Sustainable Rail Blueprint.

This work provides trusted insights to strengthen safety, performance, and long-term operational resilience.

Why it matters

  • Climate impacts on rail are growing and becoming increasingly costly.
  • Stronger adaptive capacity helps prevent incidents and disruption.
  • Investment in resilience protects passengers, freight, and staff.
  • The sector must prepare now to meet future climate risks and regulatory expectations.

By understanding our current capabilities, we can better prioritise resources. We can ensure our infrastructure and operations remain safe and reliable in a changing climate.

Benefits for participants

Organisations who take part receive:

  • a full CaDD report tailored to their organisation
  • clear recommendations and prioritised actions
  • benchmarked performance against national rail averages
  • the ability to track improvements across successive years
  • opportunities to collaborate on climate resilience solutions.