Policy win – March 2026

Report on the Seventh Carbon Budget recognises the challenges to decarbonise road freight and maritime.

The Environment Audit Committee has published a report on the Climate Change Committee’s Seventh Carbon Budget, outlining the challenges to decarbonise road freight and maritime. Specifically, it mentions how the switch to commercial electric vans and HGVs presents a more acute challenge, with higher upfront costs, limited vehicle availability and operational barriers for fleets without depot-based charging.

Logistics UK is referenced in multiple places, on the topics of HGV decarbonisation and the existing challenges of acquiring charging infrastructure at depots and concerns that without clarity on charging infrastructure and the necessary grid provision, replacement cycles during the 2020s and early 2030s risk locking in higher-emitting vehicles well into the Carbon Budget Seven period.

The report calls on the government to address these challenges in order to meet decarbonisation targets.

The business group responded to the Environmental Audit Committee’s inquiry into the Seventh Carbon Budget in November 2025 and continues to highlight that whilst the sector is committed to decarbonise and making positive changes, challenges remain and a pragmatic and technology neutral approach is needed along with more government support.