With only 10 days to go before the Climate Express sets off, the last coordination meeting was held on 25 November in Paris.
Highlights was put on the programme, which will consist of various sessions, bringing together speakers from different backgrounds, for example:
– Updating the science with Achim Steiner, James P. Leape, Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, Vice-Chair of the (scientific intergovernmental body) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
– On track for Copenhagen: High-Level Rail Session with Guillaume Pepy, CEO of SNCF, Yoshido Ishida, Vice-Chairman of East Japan Railways and UIC Chairman, Francisco Cardoso, President of the Board of Directors CP and Rüdiger Grube, CEO of DB
– “Future of Transport – EU’s New White Paper on Transport” with, among others, Matthias Ruete, Director General, DG TREN and the MEP Said El Khadroui
Other sessions will also be held on high-speed rail (with RENFE, Barbara Morgante, Director of Strategy, Ferrovie dello Stato), freight (with Jean-Michel Genestier, General Director SNCF Transport and Logistics, Rudy Colle, General Director UIRR).
Among the personalities on board, other than those quoted above, will be Jean-Pierre Loubinoux, Paul Magnette, Belgian Federal Minister of Climate & Energy, Etienne Schouppe, Belgian State Secretary for Mobility, Jannie Haek, CEO SNCB-Holding, Marc Descheemaecker, SNCB CEO, Richard Brown - Eurostar CEO, David Viner - World Climate Change Programme Leader (British Council), Wang Shi, Chairman of the Chinese Society of Ecology and Entrepreneurs and Chairman of Vanke corporation, Li Bing Bing, Chinese Actress and WWF Ambassador, Franny Armstrong, Producer and Director of the film The Age of Stupid, Luo Hong, the wildlife photographer and Apa Sherpa, record-breaking mountaineer and WWF Climate Witness.
Connie Hedegaard and Soren Soren Eriksen will welcome the train on its arrival and the message of the railway community sent from Kyoto will be delivered to them. A welcome reception will be organised in Copenhagen station.
As part of the project, a position paper has been developed. It is now available online on the Train to Copenhagen website and will be distributed on the Climate Express as well as at the UIC stand at the UN Conference COP 15.
Keep track of the Kyoto to Copenhagen journey
After Kyoto (Japan), the travel team stopped in Vladivostok, and is continuing their journey on the Trans-Siberian. They have just left the Lake Baikal region and are heading to Yekaterinburg, the interlink city between the West and the East.
They report daily on their experiences and what they can witness of the effects on climate change at www.traintocopenhagen.org. Visit the website and support them!
