Dr. Aoife O'Grady:

We are working with colleagues in the Department of Finance as part of the tax strategy group to analyse ways within the taxation system to further incentivise not just electric vehicles but lower-emission vehicles and disincentivise the highest emitting vehicles. That is an ongoing process and the budget each year considers that.

On regulation, one can make a couple of small tweaks to the regulatory system. Last year, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage introduced one tweak that requires all new housing builds to be enabled for EV charging. Consideration is being given to how infrastructure and new infrastructure both private and domestic or commercial sides, including workplaces and new shopping centres, can be designed to already work with a sustainable or decarbonised transport system. All of those are small tweaks that we can make and they will build in to an overall environment that encourages more sustainable and decarbonised trips.