Skip to main content

TRL pledges support for global initiative at UN Climate Summit

The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL)’s chief executive Rob Wallis, attending the United Nations Climate Summit in New York last week, was delighted to be able to pledge TRL’s support to the UEMI initiative, by UN-Habitat. “The UEMI initiative, aimed at substantially increasing the adoption of electric vehicles within urban environments, aligns strongly with TRL’s own strategy and current activities,” Wallis explained. “TRL is actively engaged in leading innovative research programmes to understan
October 2, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (491 TRL)’s chief executive Rob Wallis, attending the United Nations Climate Summit in New York last week, was delighted to be able to pledge TRL’s support to the UEMI initiative, by UN-Habitat.

“The UEMI initiative, aimed at substantially increasing the adoption of electric vehicles within urban environments, aligns strongly with TRL’s own strategy and current activities,” Wallis explained. “TRL is actively engaged in leading innovative research programmes to understand the implications and opportunities presented by new low-carbon technologies, and is today working on a number of Europe-wide projects seeking the widespread introduction of electrified bus systems across Europe, together with emerging wireless charging solutions for electric vehicles, and a number of similar electric vehicle projects in its home market of the UK.”

He added that “The UEMI initiative is a crucial enabler for addressing the impact of growing and populous urban cities around the world, with the congestion and carbon implications they bring. TRL is focusing its efforts to enable ‘smart traffic solutions for smart cities’.”

Four global transport initiatives announced at the summit aim to put the transport sector on track toward a low-carbon future and save trillions of dollars in fuel costs in the process.

These and other initiatives are intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through a host of measures, from increasing the number of new bus and metro lines to increasing the number of electric vehicles and introducing car- and bike-sharing.

The International Union of Railways launched the Low-Carbon Sustainable Rail Transport Challenge to promote the use of rails for freight and transport, saying it anticipated a 75 per cent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions from rail transport by 2050.

Another initiative, the 3833 International Association of Public Transport Declaration on Climate Leadership, brought pledges, commitments and actions for more than 110 public transport undertakings in everything from buses to cable cars, while the International Civil Aviation Organisation promised to step up the commitment to reach the industry’s long-term global goal of halving net CO2 emissions by 2050 compared to 2005 levels.

Related Content

  • December 4, 2014
    Global navigation reference point to test zero emission driverless vehicles
    A successful consortium led by the UK’s Transport research Laboratory (TRL) has been selected by Innovate UK to deliver the GATEway project (Greenwich Automated Transport Environment), one of three projects awarded to test driverless vehicles in UK urban locations. The US$12.5 million project will see three trials of different types of zero emission automated vehicles within an innovative, technology-agnostic testing environment set in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The ‘prime meridian’ was establi
  • May 5, 2021
    ‘Shining moment of opportunity for tolling’
    Climate change is already affecting tolling operations in many parts of the world. IBTTA’s Bill Cramer explains how the sector can be seen as a proven funding and financing mechanism for surface transportation
  • December 15, 2015
    TRL wins eighth prestigious international road safety award
    The UK’s Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) has received its eighth Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its work in improving road worker safety. The Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards recognise achievements in road safety and are presented to the most outstanding road safety initiatives across the world. TRL won the prestigious award for its research underpinning off side signs removal (OSSR), a signing technique for road works which has enabled elimination of live carriage
  • October 27, 2016
    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’