The Green Miles’ nine question decarbonisation challenge – Dr. Nicholas Davies

Dr. Nicholas Davies biog:

Nicholas is the Head of Climate Policy at Green Alliance, having joined in 2024 after a twenty-year career in sustainability-focused roles. His previous experience includes working with the NGO team that coordinated the ‘The Big Ask’ campaign that secured the Climate Change Act 2008 and supporting cross-party MPs in their scrutiny of climate and energy policy in the House of Commons.

He has managed influential inquiries on sustainable fashion and water quality in rivers, and his work was recognized in the ENDs report Power List in 2023, celebrating the 100 environmental professionals making the most impact in the UK. He holds a BA in Politics and History from Queen Mary University and an MSc in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics.

Right, let’s get down to it…

9. In your view, what are the biggest and most common sustainability challenges facing the whole logistics sector?  

The biggest brakes on the transition to electric heavy goods vehicles are the high upfront costs of investing in the vehicles and depot charging infrastructure, and the challenges involved in securing grid connections for logistics hubs.

Finding the capital to meet these challenges is particularly acute for some logistics operators because of the tight profit margins in the sector. The government is right to be consulting on new regulation to drive the shift to zero emission HGVs, but it also needs to back this up with support for businesses to make the switch.

We’ve seen a welcome extension of the plug in truck grant, but only for a year. That sort of support is going to be needed for the coming years to ensure we can accelerate take up to meet the 2035 and 2040 phase out dates for non zero emission trucks.

Crucially, ministers also need to do much more to tip the balance of incentives in favour of electrification. At present the total cost of ownership for electric lorries is still not fully competitive with conventional diesel vehicles.

Taking further action to reduce the cost of electricity could help incentivise the switch to cleaner, quieter electric trucks.

8. Do you think the UK’s net zero goals are realistic?  

Yes. Clean alternative technologies exist and are coming down in cost. They will ultimately be better for our businesses, our health, the climate and national security.

Shifting freight off imported diesel toward domestically generated clean renewable electricity makes us less exposed to global fossil fuel price shocks like the one we saw in 2022. The UK is already more than half-way to net zero and we’ve made remarkable progress on clean power.

In 2010, polluting coal and gas generated around 75 per cent of our electricity, while clean renewable technologies like wind power produced less than four per cent. Today over 50 per cent of our electricity is now low carbon and the UK has become the first major economy to end coal burning for power.

We can learn from our power sector success by setting clear policy timelines and putting incentives in place that help to bring costs down for zero emission freight.

7. Do you think it’s wise for the government to be fixated with electric and not look properly at hydrogen and other zero- and low-carbon fuels?  

I don’t think it is fair to say government is fixated with electric options. Its regulatory approach for cars, vans and HGVs is to scale ‘zero emission’ alternatives, meaning it is agnostic about which technological solution wins out. In fact, it has even funded hydrogen trials.

The fact is, hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are less efficient at converting energy to motion than electrified power trains, and that inefficiency shows up as additional cost in total cost of ownership figures. It is the market that has shown that electric vehicles are the primary solution to deliver zero emission logistics.

Low carbon fuels like biodiesel have offered a transitional way for companies to reduce their scope 1 emissions from their own transport fleets or scope 3 emissions from outsourced logistics. But these fuels come with their own problems, often requiring land that could be better used to grow other crops, and only have a limited impact in reducing emissions.

We believe zero emission HGVs should be defined as the absence of a combustion engine in the powertrain. This guarantees zero tailpipe emissions, ensuring we have cleaner air in our towns and cities and much lower carbon dioxide emissions.

6. Who is an inspirational figure in logistics?  

Jamie Sands from Welch Group, because he’s shown what practical leadership looks like: piloting electric HGV operations in the real world. He also powerfully makes the case that the tech is ready, but scaling needs government support and policy direction.

5. Do you see rail freight competing with road and air transport?  

It would be good to see as much freight moved by rail as possible. It is by far the most efficient and low pollution form of mass transportation, especially when running on electrified routes. And, at the moment, the UK underuses its rail freight capacity.

Rail won’t replace road freight, but it can play its part in helping to reduce costly congestion and pollution. We’re pleased to see the government setting an ambition to grow rail freight and taking practical steps to increase how much rail freight uses the Channel Tunnel.

4. How do logistics companies deal with first mover hesitancy?  

They need better support from the government to: help with the upfront capital costs, guarantee residual value, and make grid connections predictable, so that innovation is easier and the current total cost of ownership gap is closed.

3. What does 2026 look like for logistics decarbonisation?  

This year we need to see the government provide policy certainty and direction, setting out its intention to introduce a mandate to drive the uptake of zero emission HGVs. We need a clear trajectory that manufacturers, investors and fleet operators can plan around for the next decade and beyond.

It’s positive that government is now actively consulting on regulatory options. The key test will be whether the final framework gives long-term certainty and is paired with practical support for the sector to speed up grid connections, deliver charging infrastructure and provide grants for operators to make the switch.

2. What are the best examples of positive breakthroughs you’ve seen in the last decade?  

One exciting breakthrough is the new Megawatt Charging System (MCS) being rolled out on the continent. With MCS, charging a lorry from 20 to 80 per cent can take as little as 30 minutes, fitting neatly into mandated driver rest periods.

To fully electrify the UK’s freight network rapid charging will need to be part of the solution.

1. Imagine you’re Prime Minister for a day and you have a magic wand. You can do one good thing, or change one policy. What would it be?  

I’d reduce electricity prices by moving more policy levies into general taxation, so that electric zero emission lorries (and other clean electric technologies) are the obvious economic choice.

And I would set in law an ambitious but achievable sales mandate for manufacturers to drive supply of eHGVs.