Benoît Leguet: “Resilience and robust performance must take centre stage”
How can France prepare for a 4°C temperature rise by 2100? We spoke with the Executive Director of the Institute for Climate Economics (I4CE), a non-profit think tank that informs public policy on climate change mitigation and adaptation through in-depth analysis.
SNCF Group: How can companies balance climate action with economic performance?
Benoît Leguet: In today’s increasingly unpredictable world—marked by shifting geopolitics, economic volatility, and climate instability—business success is no longer just about maximizing efficiency. Instead, resilience and robust, adaptable performance must take centre stage. Companies need to ask themselves: how can we ensure long-term sustainability and success across a wide range of possible futures, including the most challenging? What will customers value tomorrow, when the full impact of climate change starts to hit home? And how can SNCF continue to meet customer needs and deliver essential services in the decades ahead? These are the strategic questions that should guide investment decisions for the next 5, 10, or even 20 years.
SNCF Group: How can SNCF make sustainability contagious?
B.L.: It’s hard to be robust and resilient all by yourself. Because these qualities aren’t built in isolation—they thrive within strong regional ecosystems. The rail network, for example, will need to adapt alongside the regions it serves. One major challenge is water cycle disruption, which poses a critical threat to infrastructure. The best way to mitigate flood risks is for tracks to run alongside fields that can absorb excess water. Similarly, for employees and passengers to stay connected to their workstations, we need to maintain secure and reliable communications networks. Sustainable adaptation means working together.
The rail network will need to adapt alongside the regions it serves.
Executive Director, I4CE, the Institute for Climate Economics
SNCF Group: How can we do a better job of listening to regional voices?
B.L.: To prepare for the future, project leaders must continually ask: how will climate change impact our operations and infrastructure? Waiting for a crisis to react is costly and inefficient—proactive planning and collaboration are essential. Because you don’t invent crisis management on the fly. You need to learn to work together, which means that the time to build partnerships and develop forward-thinking strategies is now—before a crisis erupts. Companies need to pay attention to their daily interactions, to local conditions; they need to foster strong relationships with public institutions, suppliers and users to ensure a coordinated and adaptive response to emerging threats. That’s how you form lasting behaviours that connect all of the links in a regional transport system.
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