A new Council for Net Zero Transport comprising senior stakeholders has launched in the UK to steer the decarbonisation transition as it moves into the crucial delivery phase.

The council will help forge collaboration on a clear, strategic direction for road transport decarbonisation

Convened by Zemo Partnership, the council will be chaired by Lord Deben, formerly UK Environment Secretary and chair of the Climate Change Committee.

It will engage senior figures from government, industry, environment and academic sectors to enable collaboration on a clear, strategic direction for road transport decarbonisation.

Lord Deben said: “Our generation faces no greater challenge than that of tackling climate change.

“With transport responsible for over a quarter of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, if we’re going to solve this problem, we have to effectively decarbonise transport. We must do this for our environment, and we will reap rewards both politically and economically from doing so.”

Zemo’s new executive director, Claire Haigh, said: “Decarbonising transport is a vital – and particularly challenging – element of the UK’s legally binding net zero targets.

“The policy prescriptions needed to do this are complex, nuanced and cross-sectoral, and achieving a successful outcome will be of huge benefit to the UK’s environment, society and economy. This is too vital a task for us to be distracted by over-simplifications and the short-term vagaries of our political system.

“We have some world-leading targets but we’re at a key moment in the transition and what we need now is a laser-like focus on delivery. To achieve this, we’ll need the full participation of government – nationally and locally, to the level of each town and parish council –  industry, consumers and operators.”

Zemo Partnership (formerly Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership/LowCVP) has been working for over two decades to provide unbiased guidance to government and industry around the policy and initiatives needed to accelerate road transport decarbonisation.

Zemo has also announced a new project on behalf of the Welsh Government that will provide a trailblazer project for the rest of the UK.

The Welsh Commercial Vehicle Decarbonisation programme will deliver a bespoke strategy for Wales covering heavy and light-duty commercial vehicles, with focus on sustainable fuels, electrification and the potential role for hydrogen.

Zemo will work closely with the Government of Wales to develop the strategy and routes to delivery.

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change in the Government for Wales, said: “We’re excited by the potential of this project to stimulate and accelerate the decarbonisation of commercial vehicles in Wales which we view as a key challenge on our path to net zero.”

Zemo Partnership’s Chair, Philip Sellwood, said: “The new Council for Net Zero Transport along with the invitation to work alongside the Welsh Government come at a key time in transport’s decarbonisation transition.

“We’ll be working even more closely with our wide-ranging membership to focus on what we need to do together to deliver the targets in the best interests of our environment and the UK’s industrial future.”

Zemo’s Claire Haigh has also published a report on ‘Delivering Net Zero in a Changing World’. The report, available here, sets out the imperative to deliver on net zero, delivery mechanisms and ways to win hearts and minds.