Following COP26, Steer's Movement Matters 'Net Zero by 2030' webinar series recently hosted talks with industry experts that delved deeper into the UK’s decarbonisation ambitions and how to navigate potential challenges to accelerate action.
FIVE ONE HOUR SESSIONS, OVER FIVE DAYS
With COP26 laying the foundation for faster progress to move to a resilient, Net Zero economy across the globe, Steer invited experts across a multitude of sectors to reflect and share their perspectives in five specially selected interactive sessions.
The five-day event summaries and on-demand videos for each session are now available, topics covered:
Naomi Green, Director at England's Economic Heartland discussed the role of local government in surface transport decarbonisation.
Nicki Mableson, EIA Director at Lichfields and James Woodall, Head of Sustainability at Allies & Morrison shared insights on how to gain the benefits of city living in suburban locations.
Matt Gorman, Carbon Strategy Director at Heathrow Airport discussed how airports and the aviation industry are making progress to deliver net zero by 2030 and the challenges they face.
Tim Middleton, Transport Innovations at Kent County Council and Nathan Piper, Sales Manager at InstaVolt discussed opportunities to achieve zero-emission mobility in the UK.
Penny Latorre, Director at Ensphere Group and Hayden Morgan, Founder of Morgan Green Advisory discussed what will be critical to raise finance to support decarbonisation.
We commenced the week with the outlook for transport policy and strategy in the UK. Discussing the role of local and regional partners in delivering government policy, we examine the extent to which policy is joined up across all levels of government. With local authorities and regional bodies all with different baseline emissions, different capability and capacity to deliver net zero commitments, and with different target dates for net zero, how can a successful joined-up, deliverable approach be brokered?
Read the event summary.
Naomi Green - Director, England's Economic Heartland
Naomi is responsible for delivering EEH’s work programme, including preparation and implementation of the regional Transport Strategy to 2050: ensuring EEH is driving forward the region’s ambitions for supporting economic growth while delivering a decarbonised transport system.
Hugh Jones - Chief Executive Officer, Steer
Hugh is a dynamic and results-focused leader of consultancy teams and the CEO of Steer. He has 20 years’ experience and specialises in providing commercial and transactional advice to governments, investors and operators. During his time at Steer, Hugh has advised the private sector in directing bids, as well as providing commercial advice to both Eurostar and HS2 Ltd, and has particular expertise in high-speed rail and associated competition issues.
Even prior to the pandemic, there was pent-up demand for new housing. Coming out of lockdown, that demand has not disappeared and with renewed appetite for housing with private outdoor space, urban extensions and new garden communities are expected to be an important part of future provision.
This session explored the practicalities and policy implications of making new housing developments more sustainable to assist with meeting net-zero targets.
Nicki Mableson, EIA Director - Lichfields
Nicki joined Lichfields London office in May 2002. She leads Lichfields’ Environmental Impact Assessment team and has significant experience in advising clients on EIA and environmental issues across a wide range of sectors including large scale residential; major infrastructure (including NSIPs); commercial; leisure and sports facilities across the UK.
James Woodall, Head of Sustainability - Allies & Morrison
James leads Allies and Morrison's sustainability group, using environmental design to enhance architectural responses. He leads the development and application of Allies and Morrison's sustainability strategy, driving transformational change across the practice. James was a co-editor of the London Energy Transformation Initiative (LETI) Climate Emergency Design Guide.
Adrian Cole - Director, Steer
Adrian has over 30 years’ experience in transport planning, traffic engineering and interchange design. He has worked worldwide for public and private sector clients. Adrian leads our major developments team, helping private and public land owners to realise the development potential of land and buildings and improve access by all modes. He provides support for initial strategies via planning applications onto the operational phases.
The clock is ticking on the Paris Agreement stretch target to limit global warming to 1.5°C, yet on the eve of the COP26 summit in Glasgow, UN Secretary-General António Guterres declared that current commitments of the shipping and aviation industry "are more consistent with warming way above 3 degrees".
Heathrow airport has become one of the world's first major aviation hubs to become carbon neutral for its infrastructure and the first to target zero carbon by mid-2030.
Matt Gorman, Director of Heathrow Airport Carbon Strategy, joined us in this stimulating debate, including the airport's pioneering ambitions to reduce carbon emissions in aviation.
Matt Gorman, Carbon Strategy Director at Heathrow
Matthew is Carbon Strategy Director for Heathrow, in a newly formed function which has brought together the airport's business strategy and sustainability areas into a new "Carbon & Strategy Department". He has been Sustainability & Environment Director at Heathrow for the last decade, leading the team that developed "Heathrow 2.0", the airport's award-winning leadership plan for sustainable growth.
Clémence Routaboul - Associate Director, Steer
Clémence has more than 15 years' experience in European transport regulation and policy issues and the aviation industry. APM accredited, she is an experienced Project Manager and Director. At Steer, Clémence is the team manager for regulatory economics, aviation, business and financial modelling. In this important role, she ensures team cohesion and adequate participation of all to deliver successful results to clients.
Environmental and sustainability policies are driving electric vehicle deployment across the UK, while policies are being tailored to support national market transitions. The transition to EVs should ultimately provide substantial benefits to consumers, however in the short term there is increased anxiety around access, awareness and quantity of the charging infrastructure to support the change .
In this session, Nathan Piper Business Manager at Instavolt and Tim Middleton, Transport Innovations Programme Managers, Kent Council shared their views on how to achieve zero emission mobility in the UK.
Nathan Piper, Sales Manager at Instavolt
InstaVolt is the largest network of owner-operated rapid electric vehicle charging stations in the UK providing on the go recharging. Nathan leads the rollout of rapid charging stations across InstaVolt’s KFC and Costa Coffee portfolios, while expanding the company’s offering, driving a Fleet product to support businesses electrifying their Fleets.
Tim Middleton, Transport Innovations Programme Manager, Kent Council
Tim leads Kent CC’s rollout of electric vehicle charging infrastructure in Kent. Kent County Council is working on a number of projects across Kent to provide a coherent charging network at all levels and ensure even those without off-street parking will have access to chargers when needed.
What role can green finance play in fuel investment in low or no-carbon infrastructure?
In our final session of the week, we discussed the evolution of green finance, including the range of green financial products, pricing and innovation trends, and the role of policymakers and regulators in creating an enabling environment for green finance, with Penny Latorre, Director at Ensphere Group, and Hayden Morgan, Founder of Morgan Green Advisory.
Hayden Morgan, Founder at Morgan Green Advisory
Hayden was instrumental in the set-up of the UK Green Investment Bank, now forming Macquarie’s Green Investment Group. He recently founded Morgan Green Advisory, with a mission to ‘enable a sustainable, lower carbon future’ and where he advises on sustainability, ESG and green investment. He recently played a key role in establishing the new FAST-Infra initiative and creating a new sustainable infrastructure (SI) label in partnership with a range of IFIs and commercial financiers.
Penny Latorre, Director at Ensphere Group
With over 20 years’ experience, Penny is a widely recognised Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) advisor with specialist knowledge of ESG support for infrastructure projects, including aviation, roads, rail and ports, and experience in assessing and promoting equality and diversity.
Matt Bull - Associate Director, Steer
Matt is an infrastructure finance specialist with nearly 20 years of experience as an advisor and financier of infrastructure projects in the UK and in emerging markets. Before joining the World Bank, he was an Assistant Director with PwC, where he specialised in the provision of financial, commercial and economic advice to the project finance and corporate finance (M&A) market.
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