Consortium win £750,000 to decarbonise port area

An eleven-strong consortium has helped to unlock £750,000 to decarbonise industries in and around Bristol Port.

Key members of the group include the University of the West of England, Port of Bristol and Hydrogen South West.

Now a step-by-step green action plan will be created to help decarbonise the activities of Portbury, Avonmouth and Severnside firms.

West of England mayor Dan Norris, who took part in the delegation, said: “The West of England is home to some tricky-to-decarbonise industries. Business leaders tell me they want to step up and do the right thing to reduce their carbon footprint.

“But to do that, they need a solid plan, backed by ambitious, achievable policies to make that transition to a greener way of working as simple as possible.”

The consortium will identity the areas where firms can become much more energy efficient, and where cleaner, greener fuels can be used. It is thought this is likely to lead to a big jump in the use of heat networks, and other green technologies.

Carbon capture technologies at sites using the West’s rail network where it is considered impossible to completely stop generating carbon will also be studied.

Mr Norris added: “The climate crisis is the number one challenge of our time – that’s why I’ve made it a priority. Government ministers are backtracking on net zero, but I’m determined to redouble our efforts here in the West to do the right thing.

“This latest funding boost builds on our recent funding successes – not least the £2.5m in cash we won to establish a new ‘hydrogen supercluster’ in the region, plus other big wins. We are fast becoming a key centre for climate innovation.”