Thought Leadership

Decarbonisation – the work starts here

Hello and welcome back to Farnborough International for the second ITT Hub, and Logistics UK’s Future Logistics Conference 2022 for two days of discovery and debate.

To plagiarise the well-known saying, a year is a long time in logistics, and so much has happened since we last convened in Farnborough to discuss decarbonising our sector. After all the razzmatazz of the COP26 Conference in Glasgow, and the announcement of the government’s own Net Zero Strategy, just over six months ago, our industry is now starting to lay the building blocks towards a zero-emission future. But much still needs to be confirmed if this is to be achieved by the government’s stated target of 2050.

While the vans market seems to be adopting an electric option, I am looking forward to discussing alternative fuels options for HGVs with the OEMs on site. An effective network of refuelling or recharging stations must be rolled out nationwide, at pace, so that journeys are not hampered, and goods still arrive on time.

Logistics UK has been working closely with government over the past year – and will continue to do so – to identify ways that operators can switch to a low carbon option without incurring prohibitive costs. Vehicle grants and subsidies need to be made available sooner rather than later, while access to Clean Air Zones, planned (and in some cases already implemented) across the country should not be prohibitively expensive for logistics vehicles: the economy will still need the goods which our industry brings to them, and we must work together to find innovative ways to protect the supply chain and continue to deliver for UK PLC. There is still much to be done, and not much time in which to achieve it.

As the only business group which represents the whole of the logistics industry, Logistics UK is proud to have assembled a line-up of market-leading, insightful speakers for this year’s Future Logistics Conference and I look forward to the discussions and challenges that their presentations bring to Farnborough, and to you. As we all work together towards a NetZero future, this year’s ITT Hub and Future Logistics Conference are ideally placed to provide the information and debate that we all need to drive our industry forwards. Have a wonderful visit! David Wells OBE, CEO, Logistics UK