By John Challen

A key consideration for CIHT members is the environment they work in and the impact that climate change will have on it in the not-so-distant future. With that in mind, a series of workshops, CIHT CLIMATES, have run (and will continue through 2025) to encourage discussion and to widen knowledge levels around the subject.

In addition, tackling climate change has been boiled down into a simple question, which is now open to answer in a survey: ‘In an uncertain world, what priority actions in highways and transportation should we double-down on in the next three years to meet the unfolding challenges of climate change as we look out to 2035 and beyond?’.

This in-depth survey is aimed to be as comprehensive as possible given it will inform the CIHT CLIMATES report and its recommendations due to be published in the spring.

The man in charge of CIHT CLIMATES is Glenn Lyons, CIHT’s President and Mott MacDonald Professor of Future Mobility at the University of the West of England.

“The idea of the workshops, in part, is to explore the uncertainty of the future,” he explains. “So, we joke with participants about them having time machines in which they travel to 2035 and go in different directions that are determined by two things: the extent of progress being made internationally with emissions reduction, and whether climate action at a national level is developing strongly enough or if it is too weak.”

Lyons stresses that capturing the thoughts, views and opinions of CIHT members is vital to the success of not only the initiative, but also the contribution of the highways and transportation sector to helping society survive or thrive in the face of what lies ahead.

“One of the challenges with a membership organisation is that when you have over 10,500 members and you issue a statement saying ‘CIHT advises that…’, there's not a single collective hive mind, it’s more a wide range of views,” he says. “So, as an Institution, we thought it would be helpful to get a better sense of what our members are thinking around climate change.

“We also reasoned that it would be valuable to gather their views about climate action, in order to formulate a set of messages and recommendations and feed them back into the sector.”

Career defining

Lyons explains the workshops are a form of CPD [continuing professional development] and this is another big selling point. He also adds that the workshops have been – and will be – for everyone.

“There was nothing that said you have to be an expert on climate science to come along to a workshop,” he expands. “It could be quite the opposite, and you’ve specifically made time in your diary to learn more about the subject. But people, invariably, were bringing their version or expertise to each workshop and we have had individuals from a wide range of seniorities and disciplines within the sector – from local transport planning and active travel, through to heavy infrastructure and finance.” 

Keeping topics relevant is an important point to the exercise, says Lyons. “This isn't about looking at 2100 and saying: ‘Imagine a world far, far, far away.’ We’re looking at 2035 – which is only 11 years away – and working backwards from there.

“A point was made to us by someone who said they would be surprised if we came up with anything new in this initiative. But the real question is, where do we have to double down on in terms of turning what we know into action?”

A condensed version of the workshop featured as part of proceedings at CIHT’s South West Conference. Lyons hopes that the contribution of so many professionals to the initiative and the resulting reporting will be a catalyst for onward impact within the sector.

“I'm imagining, for instance, we take the findings into Mott MacDonald, and we as a company ask ourselves what actions we could or should take, or what role we would want to play - not just in our own interests as a viable business, but also in the interest of supporting the sector, the economy and society.”

Next steps

Take part in the CIHT CLIMATES survey now.

Forthcoming CIHT Climates workshops can be found here.

Newsletter image: extreme heat affecting transport; credit: Shutterstock.