The commercial transport industry has been urged to ‘act now’ on decarbonisation strategies by industry-leaders at the ITT Hub Conference.

The one-day ITT Hub Conference explored the challenges and opportunities of decarbonising fleets; a subject that will be picked up on in next year’s ITT Hub

Organised in association with Logistics UK, the one-day conference was held at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre on 24 November, and explored the challenges and opportunities of decarbonising fleets following COP26 earlier this month.

Industry leaders and international innovators took to the stage to discuss and develop plans to undertake mass electrification and a switch to cleaner fuels, from data collection to understanding the costs and ROI of new vehicles and technology.

Peter Plisner, former BBC Midlands Transport and Business Correspondent and the host for several sessions of the conference, summarised the day’s discussions: “COP26 was able to debunk some of the myths surrounding climate change and the path to zero emissions, but the message is clear: ‘Don’t wait for policy, act now’, and the commercial operators are responding to this, with a ‘can-do attitude’.”

The event included an EV Café session on ‘Biting the bullet and going zero emission’, which warned that the EV technician skills gap is becoming increasingly detrimental.

Sara Sloman, Elmtronics, stated: “To service and repair the vehicles of the future, 75,000 new technician recruits are needed and there are currently only 15,000 projected to be placed in industry.”

Tackling this, experts urged for industry collaboration in promoting the sector as a compelling career choice for the next generation of professionals – something that will be supported at the ITT Hub 2022 event next May.

The over-riding message of the event was that the commercial transport sector can make positive developments in creating a cleaner, more sustainable environment by immediate changes and collaboration with the Government to support a net-zero arena.

Mark Griffin from ITT Hub said: “It was brilliant to gather as an industry to have a timely discussion on the monumental outcomes of COP26, while the topic of net zero is at the forefront of global news. With so many fleet professionals present at this conference, the insights and outcomes shared across the sessions will help steer the industry’s focus over the next 6-12 months. We understand that it is imperative to provide a platform to collaborate and discuss positive change and progress the commercial transport industry into the future all year round, so we are looking forward to the industry reconvening at Farnborough International Exhibition & Conference Centre on 11-12 May for our exhibition and conference.”

Next year’s ITT Hub will further spearhead the future of transport as the commercial vehicle market continues to revolutionise in the transition to net zero.

For more information on attending ITT Hub 2022, please click here.