The Energy, Environment and Sustainability Platform met at UIC HQ in Paris to discuss the progress of the UIC Sustainability Unit, to share the results of projects and discuss common issues.

For the first time, the Platform had a special session on “Global Perspectives”, featuring a presentation by the International Energy Agency on the Global Energy Challenge, plus presentations by railway colleagues from Serbia and Japan. CER provided a perspective on political and policy issues in Europe.

The meeting then discussed ongoing projects and research in the various Expert Networks. Highlights included an update on plans for UIC activity at the Rio+20 Earth Summit, and plans for the next UIC Sustainability Conference in October 2012. The other main announcement was that a new Senior Expert for Energy Efficiency, Ms Veronica Aneris, will start at UIC in Paris on 14 November.

The EES Platform also announced the news that Mr Matthias Marthur of DB is stepping down as Chairman of the Noise Network. Matthias has been Chairman of the Noise Network since 2003, so he is one of the longest-serving Chairmen of any UIC expert group. The Noise Network is one of the largest expert network groups and Noise has become one of the most important topics for UIC and its members. Matthias is a Director at the Environment Centre at DB, and for him to invest his time in a UIC network shows both his personal commitment and the commitment of DB.

UIC would like to thank Matthias for all his hard work and thank DB for their strong support of this network. Matthias will be replaced as Chair of the Noise Network by Jakob Oerti of SBB.