On the afternoon of Wednesday April 29th Alexander Stafford, the Member of Parliament for Rother Valley hosted a roundtable discussion featuring academics, researchers, industry experts and third sector to discuss how electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell technology can help us transition to a zero-carbon economy. The discussion is part of a series of roundtables hosted by PolicyConnect on behalf of the APPG on Climate Change, each roundtable and topic will be accompanied by a companion essay building on the topics discussed.
Alexander co-chaired the discussions and presentations with Labour MP for Nottingham South Lilian Greenwood. The roundtable covered a variety of issues facing alternative propulsion technologies including infrastructure requirements, government taxation and regulatory frameworks and the need for behavioural change on the part of drivers, consumers and businesses.
Alexander will be working with Dr Laurie King and Dr Yagya Regmi, academics from Manchester Metropolitan University, over the next few months to produce an essay building on the discussion at the roundtable.
Commenting on the roundtable Alexander said:
"Personal and public transport play such a critical part of our green agenda, and there is a clear need to support commuters and drivers to switch to environmental alternatives. A lot has already been done by the Government to pursue this, but making EVs and these alternatives accessible and promoting behavioural change on the part of drivers will both be necessities to help us in meeting our zero-emissions target. The roundtable saw a variety of these important matters raised and I thank all the attendees for their contributions and the All Party Parliamentary Climate Change Group."
Alternative fuel technologies have been important policy issues for Alexander and were features of his pre-Parliamentary work at both the World Wildlife Fund and Shell. Alexander looks forward to working with the Climate Change APPG on these topics further and thanked PolicyConnect for organising and hosting the roundtable on behalf of the APPG.
