This Statement has been jointly prepared by the following associations: Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants (ALLRAIL), Community of the European Railways and Infrastructure Companies (CER), European Rail Infrastructure Managers (EIM), European Rail Freight Association (ERFA), International Union of Wagon Keepers (UIP) and European Rail Supply Industry (UNIFE), hereinafter ‘’the European rail sector’’.

With the present joint statement, the European rail sector aims to highlight its common priorities on the European Commission’s proposal for amending the Taxonomy Climate & Disclosures Delegated Acts.
▪ Rail is the greenest mode of mass transportation and freight: achieving the climate-neutrality ambition by 2050 requires decarbonising the transport sector. Rail accounts for less than 0.5% of transport-related greenhouse gas emissions1 and has been steadily reducing emissions while increasing energy efficiency. Rail is thus essential to contribute to a cleaner transport paradigm.
▪ Our sector’s environmental assets and energy efficiency are vital to transitioning to a low-carbon economy and reducing the EU’s dependency on imported fossil fuels. Therefore, we consider that rail-related economic activities for infrastructure and operations, as well as for the manufacture of products and technologies, should all be considered compliant with the minimum criteria to be considered environmentally sustainable.
▪ ln order to channel investments towards greener projects and financing solutions, the EU Taxonomy’s regulatory framework must enable fair, verifiable and reliable comparability between the different economic activities and modes of transport.

We, the European rail sector, reaffirm our readiness to work with EU Institutions to make the EU Taxonomy successful. Our main recommendations on the European Commission’s proposal to amend the Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 are in ANNEX I on the next page.

Read the full joint statement :