Pandemic has helped public accept green transport policies

Ninety-two per cent of respondents to a LowCVP survey agree that now is the moment for a ‘reset’ in terms of decarbonising road transport, with nearly 85% saying that the disruption caused by the pandemic has opened the door to the public accepting more radical and effective policy prescriptions for ‘greening’ road transport.

The survey was carried out by LowCVP for their annual conference, which took place online on 15 July.

Speaking at the conference, Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps said that the Covid-19 pandemic has given us a unique opportunity to rethink the way we travel and to accelerate the development of clean technologies.

He said: “We can reframe the narrative around green vehicles and show that it is this generation that will drive the transition to zero carbon road transport.”

Speaking after the minister’s statement, LowCVP’s Managing Director welcomed the heightened ambition towards road transport decarbonisation. Andy Eastlake said: “Our target must no longer be to achieve ‘low carbon’ road transport but to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions from every stage of the whole transport system.

“That’s why, I’m announcing today that our partnership of over 200 organisations will be changing focus from ‘low’ to zero carbon and will be introducing a new brand identity to better reflect our revised objective of net zero by 2050.

“We’ll be working with leading partners in the next few weeks to introduce a new name that will communicate our heightened ambition but still reflect the vital role every member has in contributing to rapid decarbonisation.”

Over 1000 senior stakeholders registered to attend the LowCVP’s online conference, which featured over 20 leading speakers as well as the Secretary of State from the motor and fuels sectors, government, transport operations, academia and environmental NGOs.

Speakers included Sir John Armitt CBE, Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission; Caroline Russell, Local Transport Spokesperson for the Green Party and Dimitri Zenghelis, Senior Associate, Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership. (Download the full agenda here.)