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.

Tony Campbell has been the CEO of MCIA, the UK trade association for the L-Category sector (which includes 2, 3, and light 4-wheel vehicles), since 2017. He  joined directly from the Piaggio Group, where he was the UK Managing Director for 13 years.

Having identified the potential for this vehicle type, Tony orchestrated the inclusion of the sector in the Government’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan, which subsequently led to the joint action plan (sector and Government) which was launched in February 2022. The action plan placed the L-Category vehicle sector prominently in the transport mix in the route to net zero.

Other than being recognised for the potential to address the need of environmentally efficient personal mobility and last mile delivery solutions, this vehicle type already demonstrates robust environmental credentials illustrated by the Life Cycle Analysis report published in December 2021.  Tony is looking forward to supporting the work of the newly formed strategic advisory group.

Yselkla has worked within the industry for over a decade, working across the sectors BEAMA represent from EV Infrastructure,  Smart Grids,  Connected Homes and IOT products. Following her position as Director of Public Affairs at BEAMA Yselkla took over the role as CEO in September 2023.

With a background in Climate Science and Environmental Management, Yselkla brings with her a clear understanding of the climate emergency and a passion to drive change. This is echoed in BEAMAs strong leadership and support for industrial decarbonisation as they work to bring together the whole supply chain for electrical products to reduce emissions for the UK energy sector. 

Yselkla is a strong advocate for collaboration and community and this reflects in BEAMAs approach to member and supply chain engagement as they work to facilitate growth in key low carbon technology sectors vital to the global energy transition.   

Trevor Hutchings is CEO of the Association for Renewable Energy and Clean Technology (the REA).

Trevor brings a wealth of experience in net zero, renewables and the clean energy transition. Most recently he was a Partner at international consulting group, BIP, leading their Sustainability Centre of Excellence. Before that he led the growth and diversification strategy at energy services firm Gemserv. 

Trevor spent much of his early career in Whitehall and with the European Commission in Brussels working on energy and environment programmes, including policies to support the renewables market in the UK. He also worked at WWF, the global conservation NGO, where he was Director of Advocacy, focussing on improving public policy and environmental governance.  

Trevor is chair of the Green Purposes Company set up by the UK government to safeguard the green mission of the world’s first Green Investment Bank following its sale to Macquarie, the global infrastructure investor. He is a Fellow at the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment and holds the IoD’s certificate in corporate governance.  

Gerry Keaney is Chief Executive of the British Vehicle Rental and Leasing Association (BVRLA), having joined the association in 2013. 

In addition to his BVRLA role, Gerry sits on the UK Government’s Motorist’s Forum and is a member of the CBI’s Trade Association Council and Chairman of the Automotive Strategy Group of Leaseurope in Brussels. 

Gerry has spent most of his working life in the automotive industry, having started his career at Jaguar and Land Rover and subsequently spending 21 years at Volvo Cars. After spells in a variety of senior sales, operations and dealer roles, he was Chief Executive of Volvo Cars UK between 1996 and 2002. He then moved on to a number of international roles at Volvo Car Corporation, culminating with nine years as Senior Vice President of Global Marketing, Sales and Customer Service and member of the Management Board. 

Emma Pinchbeck is the Chief Executive of Energy UK, a position that she has held since July 2020. She is an expert in whole-economy decarbonisation and the energy transition. She also holds several board advisory positions. Emma has two children and shares childcare with her husband. She is passionate about efforts to improve diversity in the energy industry. 

From 2016-2020, she served as Deputy CEO of the trade body Renewable UK, in which role she also sat on the Board of Scottish Renewables. Prior to this, Emma was Head of Climate Change at WWFU-K. She has an MA from the University of Oxford. 

Vicky Read is CEO of ChargeUK, the voice of the UK’s EV charging infrastructure industry. She was appointed as the organisation's first CEO in May 2024. She joined from Connected Kerb where she was Head of Policy and Public Affairs, having also been ChargeUK’s inaugural Vice-Chair between April 2023 and March 2024.  

Richard Smith is Managing Director at the Road Haulage Association (RHA). His career in transport and logistics has spanned over 30 years and has included working with several privately owned and third-party logistics businesses throughout the UK and Europe. 

Richard joined the RHA in 2017 initially to oversee a collective claim on behalf of UK-based commercial vehicle operators against the truck manufacturers involved in the Truck Cartel. 

He simultaneously led the development of several key areas of the business including membership, shop sales, training and support services making RHA a far more relevant and effective trade association that provides greater value to its members and the wider road transport community. 

Richard has continued to lead the introduction and delivery of RHA’s strategy which has encompassed rebranding, van, coach and individual membership offerings, and the introduction of a customs brokerage and two driving training schools. 

Richards strong emphasis on collaboration and stakeholder engagement has positively positioned the association as a trusted partner, enabling the organisation and its representatives to lead and represent industry across its many challenges. 

In July 2023, Richard was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Trade Association Forum and soon after appointed Chairman.

Graham joined the Confederation of Passenger Transport (CPT) as CEO in May 2019. CPT is the trade association for the UK’s bus and coach industries, with members providing around 95% of UK bus services and the majority of UK coach services.

Graham’s focus has been on transforming CPT to have a clearer, stronger voice on behalf of its members. His previous roles include a number of senior policy and communication roles in the financial services sector, Head of Policy at consumer group, Which? and a senior researcher in the House of Commons Library. In all of these roles he’s sought to bring simplicity, clarity and a strong focus on customer outcomes.