I was kindly invited to return to the Great Big Green Week in Ticehurst yesterday afternoon to talk about transport decarbonisation and the future of energy with members of the local community.

The Government has set a target to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050 and transport decarbonisation is critical to meeting our obligations, with transport currently accounting for the largest source of CO2 emissions in the UK. Larger reductions in other sectors, most notably energy and business, means that despite a slight decrease in real terms, the share of UK emissions from transport rose from 18% in 1990, to 24% in 2020.

During the meeting, I talked about some of the work the Transport Select Committee has undertaken in this area, including on the transition to electric vehicles, following the plans to ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars in 2030, and the rollout of the necessary charging infrastructure, particularly in rural areas. We then moved on to have a broad discussion on issues such as the use of heat pumps, solar panels, fracking, and proposed changes to the Environmental Land Management Scheme. It was a pleasure to then hold my second local event in a week on decarbonising transport with the Bexhill and Rother Environmental Groups. Over 90 minutes, we discussed and debated the challenges ahead.

It was great to be able to report back on the Transport Select Committee's work and take some superb ideas back to Parliament. Many thanks to the two groups for inviting me.