The event's aim was to define a practical, industry-led roadmap for decarbonising heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) ahead of the UK’s 2040 phase-out of new fossil fuel truck sales.
The 12 Pillars of Change initiative addresses one of the toughest challenges in the UK’s net-zero journey: how to decarbonise freight when there is no settled roadmap for HGV decarbonisation, debate is often politically charged, fragmented, and disconnected from the operational reality of fleets, infrastructure, and finance.
Unlike traditional reports or lobbying efforts, the 12 Pillars of Change is designed as a collaborative, industry-owned framework.
It brings together twelve leading voices, each from one of the ‘pillars of change’, the critical sectors that must collaborate for zero emission freight to succeed: Advocacy, 3PL, Grid, Trade Bodies, Energy, Private Fleet, Charging, Academia, Finance, OEMs, Independent Operator, Digital.
The first roundtable event, “12 Pillars of Change: Defining the Road to Zero”, held at Welch Group’s Duxford HQ, will help shape a zero-emission freight future that reflects both policy ambition and operational reality. It will determine the initiative’s next steps, which will explore the barriers identified through a series of follow up sessions.
Will Rowe, Octopus Energy and Andrew Scott, Positive Connections UK
“The 12 Pillars of Change is basically us asking the awkward question: what’s it really going to take to get zero-emission freight done? Not the glossy slides or the big promises, but the day-to-day stuff operators have to wrestle with. We’re grounding it in the real world because that’s where the problems actually live,”
said Jamie Sands, Head of Solutions at Welch Group.
“This is the start of a roadmap that has to make sense commercially as much as technically. It’s being built inside the industry, not handed down from the outside. We’re putting the barriers on the table, we’re pointing to who needs to shift them, and we’re doing it in a way that drives actual progress, not just another round of reports.”
Welch Group, one of the UK’s earliest adopters of electric HGVs, is using its operational experience and credibility to convene the sector through TwentyForty – its platform named for the UK’s 2040 decarbonisation deadline – positioning itself not only as an operator but as a trusted voice to guide the transition.
