Skip to main content

TRL consortium research project to address climate change

With climate change generating increasing challenges for road operators, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has begun a US$491,000 (€450,000) research project to help European road operators better address the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Following a successful competitive bid, TRL is leading a consortium of six partners to deliver the two year DeTECToR (Decision-support Tools for Embedding Climate Change Thinking on Roads) project. The project is part of CEDR’
October 27, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
With climate change generating increasing challenges for road operators, the UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL) has begun a US$491,000 (€450,000) research project to help European road operators better address the impacts of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Following a successful competitive bid, TRL is leading a consortium of six partners to deliver the two year DeTECToR (Decision-support Tools for Embedding Climate Change Thinking on Roads) project. The project is part of CEDR’s Transnational Road Research Programme, Call 2015 Climate Change: From Desk to Road and is funded by Germany, Netherlands, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Austria.   

DeTECToR will produce practical tools and guidance documents, enabling road operators to better integrate climate change considerations in decision making and procurement. These include a cost-benefit tool that will utilise climate projections and asset information to enable the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of different adaptation actions.

DeTECToR will also produce a self-assessment tool to help embed climate change mitigation and adaptation into procurement. With most transport operators contracting out their maintenance, integrating consideration of carbon reduction and climate change adaptation into procurement process is a vital part of addressing climate change. The DeTECToR tool will help operators to assess their processes and identify areas for action.  

A series of pilot studies will be delivered to trial the guidance and tools, including one in the UK conducted by TRL. Road operators will be engaged throughout the project, though surveys, interviews and workshops to ensure the tools and guidance produced meet their needs. The DeTECToR outputs will be an important new resource for road operators helping them to address some of the most challenging issues relating to climate change.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Driven demos AVs operating ‘safely’ in London
    October 7, 2019
    The Driven Consortium has completed a week-long demonstration which it says shows that autonomous vehicles (AVs) can operate safely in London - with a safety driver. Driven - a £13.6 million initiative supported by the UK government - carried out the demo around Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford in the east of the city. Driven has focused on completing fully-autonomous routes within the UK capital and the city of Oxford using Oxbotica’s autonomous software. Consortium members Moninet and Axa XL p
  • Monotch enables Belgium C-ITS project
    November 26, 2021
    €18.2 million project will see Monotch assisting Be-Mobile in delivering data interchange
  • Volvo warns EU on its approach to electric vehicles and its transport white paper
    March 22, 2012
    Volvo Car Corporation warns that EU targets for cutting carbon dioxide emissions are being jeopardised by the absence of harmonised incentives to consumers. Another key issue is the urge for continuous support to automotive research and development, including electromobility. Stefan Jacoby, president and CEO of Volvo Car Corporation, told an industry seminar in Brussels yesterday that jobs, investment and competitiveness in the European car industry could be threatened by the European Commission's approach
  • ACE report: private sector and user-pay for English roads
    May 16, 2018
    It’s one minute to midnight for funding England’s roads, according to a timely new report - and the clock’s big hand is pointing to some form of user-pay solution, reports David Arminas. Is there any way out of future user-pay funding for England’s highway infrastructure? The answer is a resounding ‘no’, according to the recently-published report Funding Roads for the Future. The 25-page document by the London-based Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE) calls for a radical rethink about how to