LowCVP 'blog' for Green GB Week: Focus on collaboration as LowCVP passes 200 members
Fri 19 October 2018
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As Green GB week draws to a close, today’s headlines and social media discussions demonstrate admirably how far we have come, how far we have to go…but also how important working in partnership is and will be. LowCVP Managing Director, Andy Eastlake's blog for Green GB Week...
Those of you that follow me on Twitter may have sensed my frustration about some recent developments. Some of those thoughts were echoed today by the BEIS committee and its chair Rachel Reeves as they issued calls for even faster electrification of our car parc.
While battles rage in the corridors of Westminster, another worrying tweet emerges from the provider of the UKs motorway EV charging points, that they have “no plans to share data” which can only cause future problems and limit the ability of EV drivers to get the information they need and to encourage new drivers to join the transition.
New technologies and the innovators leading them have already started to bring an era of radical change to the UK’s transport sector. Greater connectivity, automation and electrification will all play a growing role in driving that change.
With this welcome change comes opportunity, but also greater complexity and challenge. Different players from energy and technology as well as traditional transport actors who have not had to collaborate in the past, are increasingly having to do so. However, balancing commercial interests and societal benefits is not easy, but without partnership in this we risk fragmenting the system, slowing consumer uptake and severely risking the UK’s ability to deliver on its climate objectives.
In the foreword to the Government’s summer publication of the ‘Road to Zero’ strategy, the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said: “Government cannot deliver these ambitions alone. At the heart of this strategy is a commitment to work in partnership with industry, businesses, academia, environmental groups, devolved administrations, local government, consumers and international partners.”
At the Prime Minister’s Zero Emission Vehicle Summit last month, cross-sectoral collaboration was again highlighted. The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership was announced as convenor and facilitator of a new Electric Vehicle Energy Task Force (EVET) to bring together key energy, technology, transport and other stakeholders in an attempt to ensure that the electricity grid can meet expected growing demand from electric vehicles and also maximise the opportunities associated with this change.
The LowCVP is facilitating collaboration in many other areas too. We have a burgeoning relationship with the finance and leasing sector and will be bringing together key players with the means to accelerate the low carbon, low emission shift in road transport.
Also see earlier LowCVP blogs for GreenGB Week: 'Mobility in a Modern World' and 'The Low Carbon Bus Revolution'.
There are collaborative and cross-sectoral initiatives in all our other work areas too; in low carbon/emission buses, taxis, passenger cars and fuels. The commercial vehicles sector is one of particular current focus. There we’re bringing together innovators and technology suppliers with operators, manufacturers and policy makers to develop practical near-term actions and medium to long-term plans for freight decarbonisation.
Greater collaboration and new, diverse partnerships are the order of the day as new and uncharted opportunities open up in the area of ‘future mobility’.
The LowCVP will continue to be close to the centre, continuing to convene and manage new and promising partnerships and collaborations to help accelerate the low carbon transition.
And notwithstanding today’s headlines, I still believe the UK leads the way in 'working together' and is making progress, though very much more must be done.
I’m particularly pleased to announce that the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership has passed 200 members for the first time since membership fees were introduced around a decade ago. Clearly, these members, old and new, increasingly value what the LowCVP offers in terms of cross-sectoral and collaborative working and our focus on delivering solutions to the most challenging problems.
I have little doubt that the ‘power of partnership’ will only grow stronger and more important as we progress further down the ‘Road to Zero’. Working together, I really believe that we can deliver a Green Great Britain (and Northern Ireland)…and not just for a week, but for the future.
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