Council for Net Zero Transport

The Rt. Hon John Gummer, Lord Deben, is the founder and Chair of Sancroft International, a consultancy that advises businesses and investors on all areas of Sustainability and ESG. Between 2012 and 2023 he was Chair of the UK’s independent Climate Change Committee. Lord Deben was also the UK’s longest serving Secretary of State for the Environment (1993- 97) having previously been Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food. His sixteen years of top-level ministerial experience include Minister for London, Employment Minister, and Paymaster General in HM Treasury.

Lord Deben is currently Chair of Valpak Ltd and PIMFA, the trade body representing financial advisers and wealth managers. Throughout his political, business, and personal life, Lord Deben has consistently championed an accord between sustainability and business sense.

Jillian Anable is Professor of Transport and Energy at the Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds. Her research focuses on demand-side solutions to reduce carbon emissions and energy use in transport. She is Co-director of the UK Energy Research Centre and the Centre for Research on Energy Demand Solutions, leading work on transport decarbonisation.

Jillian has advised UK Government Departments, National Research Councils, and NGOs, and is a Commissioner on the Scottish Just Transition Commission. She previously served on the board of Transport & Environment and was a member of the UK Electric Vehicle Energy Taskforce steering group (also convened by Zemo).

As Chief Executive Officer, Elizabeth is responsible for the overall management and effectiveness of Fuels Industry UK as the UK's principal advocate for the downstream oil sector. Elizabeth has over 20 years of experience in a range of advocacy, stakeholder engagement and business planning roles covering the diverse interests of operators, government, and supply chain companies across the transport sector in the UK. Elizabeth was Director of Policy at Logistics UK and has worked for the UK Government's Department for Transport and the Rail Delivery Group.

Mike Hawes has led the SMMT as Chief Executive since 2013, having spent the majority of his career in the automotive industry. Mike has more than 30 years’ experience in corporate and public affairs, starting in government and consultancy before joining Toyota in the late-1990s. He managed manufacturing and market issues in the UK and Europe, before joining Bentley Motors in a global communications role. His tenure at SMMT has seen him manage a succession of challenging industry issues, from Brexit to Covid, ‘dieselgate’ to decarbonisation. He is also a Board Member of The Motor Ombudsman, and Industry Forum and sits on the Department for Transport’s Motorist’s Forum.

Fiona is the CEO of Octopus Electric Vehicles, part of Octopus Energy Group. She leads a team that helps customers choose and finance EVs, provides chargers, and offers a smart energy tariff with access to over 380,000 chargers across the UK and Europe. Fiona has driven innovations in dynamic energy tariffs and smart EV charging, including the world’s largest demonstrations of residential Vehicle-to-Grid: Powerloop. Previously, she worked at BMW, where she helped develop hydrogen-powered cars, at Bain & Company and the UK's Department of Energy & Climate Change. She also played a key role in taking connected home products to market – most notably with Hive by British Gas.

Adam has been a Councillor for Westbourne ward since 2010. He has been Leader of the Labour Group since 2015 having previously served as Deputy Leader and Shadow Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Protection.

Neville Jackson has spent nearly 40 years in industrial R&D, primarily in transport and energy systems at Ricardo plc where he was Chief Technology & Innovation Officer from 2009 to 2019. He is currently Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club Foundation, a Non-Executive Director of the UK Advanced Propulsion Centre, Chair of the UK Automotive Council Strategy Group and a member of the steering group for the Royal Academy Enterprise Hub. He has also been Chair of Zemo Partnership (when it was known as LowCVP), Vice Chair of the European Road Transport Research Advisory Council (ERTRAC) and a member of the Industry Delegation for the European Green Vehicles Initiative (EGVI).

Edmund King is President of the Automobile Association and Director of the AA Charitable Trust for Road Safety and the Environment. He is a Visiting Professor of Transport at Newcastle University. He regularly appears as a transport commentator and was an advisor to the Citizens Assembly UK on climate change. Awarded an OBE for ‘services to road safety’ in 2016, he (with his wife, Dierdre) was runner-up in the 2017 Wolfson Economics Prize. In 2020, he was inducted into PRWeek’s ‘Hall of Fame’ and with his team won the PRWeek Best Public Affairs Campaign and PRCA Best Automotive Campaign for work on ‘smart’ motorways.

Cordi O’Hara OBE is President of National Grid Electricity Distribution and is responsible for the safe and reliable operation of the UK’s largest electricity distribution network. As President, Cordi is accountable for a £7bn investment programme, ensuring clean, fair, affordable power is delivered to more than eight million homes and businesses across the region. In her time at National Grid, Cordi has been a strong advocate for innovative solutions to a decarbonised energy market, believing clean technology solutions and new demand response initiatives can help to deliver Government targets for net zero.

Dr Doug Parr is Chief Scientist and Policy Director at Greenpeace UK. He has specialised in climate change policy across power, heat, and transport sectors for many years, and monitoring issues such as bioenergy, agriculture, and land use. He has previously worked on several topics including chemicals policy, green refrigeration, waste, and marine conservation.

Anne Shaw OBE joined Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) in 2017 as Director of Network Resilience. In July 2021, Anne became Interim Managing Director of TfWM and was appointed Executive Director in 2022. In this role, she provides strategic and operational leadership for TfWM, oversees WMCA's transport planning and champions transport innovation. Anne leads a team managing future regional development, delivering a £5.2bn investment programme, and maintaining operational assets. Anne is part of the West Midlands Combined Authority executive team, Deputy Chair of Urban Transport Group and a Department for Transport Champion on tackling violence against women and girls across the public transport sector.

Ken Skates MS serves as the Cabinet Secretary for the Economy, Transport and North Wales. 

Ken was previously a journalist at the Wrexham Leader newspaper, and a PA to Mark Tami MP.

In 2008, he was elected a community councillor. Ken’s policy interests include manufacturing, mental health, sport and leisure, eliminating poverty and political economy.

Ken was appointed to the Welsh Government as Deputy Minister for Skills and Technology in 2011. He was then appointed Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism in 2014 and promoted to Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure in May 2016. Ken was appointed Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport on 21 March 2024.

Martin Tugwell leads Transport for the North, England’s first sub-national transport body, enhancing pan-Northern connectivity to boost productivity and economic growth. With over 20 years of experience in strategic transport and infrastructure planning, he previously directed England’s Economic Heartland (EEH), leading the creation of the EEH Transport Strategy – ‘Connecting People, Transforming Journeys’ which focuses on economic growth while delivering net-zero emissions by 2040. Martin is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow and past President of the Chartered Institution of Highways & Transportation (CIHT), a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE), a CIHT Trustee, and a past Chair of the Transport Planning Society.

David is Chief Executive of Logistics UK, one of the UK’s largest business groups, representing all logistics sectors. With over 20,000 members, Logistics UK covers road, rail, sea, and air industries, operating over half of the UK’s HGV fleet and consigning over 90% of rail and 70% of air and sea freight. David joined in 2009 as Finance and IT Director and became Chief Executive in 2015. Since then, he has seen membership grow by 40% and revenue by 36%. An engineering graduate and member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, David was awarded an OBE in 2022 for his services to transport and logistics.