Funding has been secured for an ambitious decarbonisation plan to roadmap the Humber’s journey to Net Zero.
A £1.7 million grant has been won for the Humber Cluster Plan, which will show how the region can lead the world in transformation of heavy industry.
The joint bid was submitted by Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and Catch, and is part of an £8 million national handout by Energy and Clean Growth Minister Kwasi Kwarteng.
Eight private sector partners are also on board: British Steel, Centrica, Drax, Equinor, National Grid Ventures, Phillips 66, SSE Thermal and VPI Immingham.
It links in with two huge carbon capture and storage projects as well as blue and green hydrogen projects also being developed in the region, with results from CCS bids from Zero Carbon Humber and Humber Zero to specific pots for funding anticipated early this year.
Stephen Parnaby OBE, chair of Humber LEP, said: “We are thrilled our funding bid for the Humber Cluster Plan has been successful. This is a significant opportunity to achieve industrial decarbonisation at a large scale in our region, which has the potential to protect important jobs while helping us to achieve our Net Zero ambitions by 2040.
“This successful outcome has only been possible with the support of our industry partners, who have illustrated there is a huge appetite in the Humber to innovate, collaborate and strive for solutions to create a cleaner, greener future for our vital industries.”
Humber Cluster Plan, a £2.6 million project, was submitted to Innovate UK as part of the Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund scheme, which emerged under the £350 million green recovery package announced by the Prime Minister in July.
Partners will match-fund.
David Talbot, chief executive of Catch, said: “We are delighted that our collaboration has been successful in securing funding to deliver a route to net zero by 2040 for the region's industrial decarbonisation activities.
“Catch’s membership represents some of the UK’s highest CO2 emitters and we look forward to developing the region’s ambitions to deliver a plan that is central to tackling the net zero challenge.
“Our industry in the Humber region is strategically important and today’s announcement will ensure that existing industry is sustainable, whilst attracting new innovative green businesses to the region and upskilling, protecting and creating jobs for the local community.”
A wider group of businesses will be involved in developing the plan, with all energy-intensive industries in the Humber invited to take part.
Project director for refinery cluster-focused Humber Zero, Jonathan Briggs, said: “This is recognition by the Government of the Humber Estuary’s pivotal role in creating a net zero carbon future.
“We have been working with Catch and the Humber LEP on the roadmap and the funding is excellent news at the start of an important year for the UK’s decarbonisation efforts.”
The team at Zero Carbon Humber - the Equinor-led, Saltend-anchored consortium behind a pan-Humber dual network stretching from Drax to Easington - described the funding win as “great news for road mapping the future decarbonisation of the Humber, including through carbon capture and storage and low carbon hydrogen production”.
