Government blueprint to create green jobs and slash emissions
A blueprint to deliver the world’s first low-carbon industrial sector and over £1bn to cut emissions from industry, schools and hospitals has been announced by the Government’s Business and Energy Secretary today.
To kick-start the process, £171m from the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge has been allocated to nine green tech projects across the nation – including over £21m for the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership project which aims to turn the Humber region into a net zero cluster by 2040.
The new Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy sets out the Government’s vision for building a competitive, greener future for the manufacturing and construction sector.
It is intended to create and support 80,000 UK jobs over the next 30 years whilst cutting emissions by two-thirds in just 15 years.
The strategy will be underpinned by supporting existing industry to decarbonise and encouraging the growth of new, low carbon industries in the UK to protect and create skilled jobs and businesses.
In order to cut carbon emissions from public buildings including hospitals, schools and council buildings, £932m has been directed to 429 projects across England.
The Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme funds low carbon heating systems, such as heat pumps, and energy efficiency measures like insulation and LED lighting.
Kwasi Kwarteng
Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “We were the first major economy to put into law our target to end our contribution to climate change, and today we’re taking steps to be the first major economy to have its own low-carbon industrial sector.
“While reaching our climate targets will require extensive change across our economy, we must do so in a way that protects jobs, creates new industries and attracts inward investment – without pushing emissions and business abroad.”
CBI chief economist, Rain Newton-Smith, added: “The Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy marks another vital step in the UK’s plans to achieve its net-zero emissions target.
“Creating and championing competitive low-carbon industries will ensure the benefits of a green economic recovery, and the longer-term transition to net-zero, are shared across the whole country.”
Places receiving shares of the £932m Government investment through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (PSDS) in England include Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.
It will get £12,640,760 to install solar panels, heat pumps and new roof insulation. Also planned are mass replacement of lighting to greener LED units, replacing inefficient air compressors, and a new supply point to Castle Hill Hospital.
The £21m for the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership project from the Industrial Decarbonisation Fund will support a vision to deliver H2H Saltend, one of the world’s first at-scale low carbon hydrogen production plants on the north bank of the Humber, and CO2 and hydrogen pipelines enabling industrial sites and power stations across the Humber to switch to hydrogen and/or capture and transport their emissions.
Also, over £12m will be awarded to project Humber Zero, which plans to decarbonise the industrial complex at Immingham, North East Lincolnshire, by creating a carbon capture and hydrogen hub, providing cost-effective and low carbon energy supply and storage opportunities to industry and the National Grid.
With the Humber region creating 40% of the UK’s industrial emissions, these projects aim to capture 25 million tonnes of carbon every year.
It will create a low-carbon hydrogen energy supply chain to power the region’s homes and businesses, while safeguarding tens of thousands of jobs.
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