Held at City Hall in London on the 8th June, the LowCVP climate change event contained 200 delegates and several famous and influential keynote speakers. In this, the sixth annual conference for carbon neutrality, a wide range of topics were discussed, including ‘Greening the Fleet Sector: Environmental optimisation in crisis time’, ‘Reframing Climate Change: How recent emission trends & the latest science change the debate’, and ‘Low Carbon Future Fuels – Delivering on the Fuels Quality Directive’.
With an interesting combination of speculation, analysis and practical reportage, the LowCVP annual conference proved to be an exciting and stimulating conference for all involved.
What the LowCVP Symbolises
As the organisers of the annual conference, LowCVP aims to doubly raise awareness of carbon emissions issues and to lobby for greater carbon neutrality in the vehicle industry. There website, in summarising their position, illuminates the aims of the LowCVP annual conference:
“The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership is an action and advisory group, established in 2003 to take a lead in accelerating the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels in the UK and to help ensure that UK business can benefit from that shift. The LCVP is a partnership of over 300 organisations from the automotive and fuel industries, the environmental sector, government, academia, road user groups and other organisations with a stake in the low carbon vehicles and fuels agenda”.
As an organisation, it has very definite aims, again expressed through the discussions and speakers at their annual conference. The organisation aims to:
Develop initiatives to promote sales and supply of low carbon vehicles and fuels
Provide input and advice on Government policy
Provide a forum for stakeholders to share knowledge and information
Ensure that UK motor, fuel and related businesses are best placed to capitalise on the opportunities in the low carbon markets of the future
Contribute to the achievement of UK Government targets for road transport carbon reduction
The LowCVP Annual Conference for 2009
Like previous years, the Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership event for 2009 took these aims and goals and expanded them throughout several seminars and discussions. With this year’s event held in partnership with the What Car? Green Awards, it was a real eye opener for both experienced car buffs and casual viewers alike; with discussions lead by industry leaders and awards coming from the popular and reputed What Car?, attendees also got a glimpse of the cars of the future, with several low emissions vehicles on display throughout the day.
Further to key discussions from industry leaders, too, the event brought in the Boris Johnson, Geoff Hoon, and Chief executive of The Eden Project, Tim Smit.
Building on the success of the LowCVP conference of 2008, the sixth annual conference was a real hit. Both speakers and attendees will certainly look forward to next year’s event, when – with a sound combination of expert and beginners activities, filtered through core, ethical aims – it seems that all around, we might see an even more successful event.
For more information on the LowCVP annual conference, and the organisation’s continuing work, please visit theLowCVP Carbon Neutral Vehicle Partnership website
List of Speakers from the LowCVP Sixth Annual Conference
Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, Secretary of State for Transport
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London
Tim Smit, Chief Executive, The Eden Project
Dr Kevin Anderson, The Tyndall Centre
Steve Fowler, Group Editor, ‘What Car’
Charles Stonehill, Chief Finance Officer, Better Place
Wade Crowfoot, Director of Climate Protection Initiatives, Mayoralty of San Francisco
Ed Crooks, Energy Editor, The Financial Times
Neville Jackson, Ricardo and Chair, LowCVP
Neil Bentley, Director, Business Environment, CBI
David Ward, Director General, FIA Foundation
Paul Everitt, Chief Executive, SMMT
Tim Abbott, Managing Director, BMW (UK) Ltd
Joe Greenwell, Chairman, Ford of Britain
Doug Parr, Chief Scientist, Greenpeace
Paul Nieuwenhuis, Cardiff Business School
Aat Peterse, Transport & Environment
Hugo Spowers, Chief Executive, River Simple
Stephen Stacey, Toyota
Darran Messem, Shell
