£350m green funding announced for heavy industry, construction, space and transport
Around £350 million of new funding is being made available to cut carbon emissions under new plans to step up efforts to tackle climate change.
The multimillion pound investment package announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson will build on his work to drive forward progress on the UK’s target to reach net zero by 2050. The funding is aimed at helping businesses across heavy industry, construction, space and transport sectors decarbonise and to secure the UK’s place at the forefront of green innovation.
The projects set to receive funding will work on developing new technologies that could help companies switch to more energy-efficient means of production, use data more effectively to tackle the impacts of climate change, and help support the creation of new green jobs by driving innovation and growth in UK industries.
As part of the investment, £139 million will be spent on supporting the transition from natural gas to clean hydrogen power, and scaling up carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. A further £149 million will be spent on driving the use of innovative materials in heavy industry such as the development of recyclable steel and the reuse of waste ash in the glass and ceramics industry.
In addition, £26 million will finance new building techniques in a bid to reduce build costs and carbon emissions in the construction industry, whilst there is a further £10 million boost for state of the art construction tech which will go towards 19 projects focused on improving productivity and building quality.
A new national space innovation programme is also backed by £15 million from the UK Space Agency. The project will monitor climate change across the globe and protect local areas from the impacts of extreme weather conditions, Research and development in the automotive sector for more efficient electric motors and more powerful batteries will be supported with £10 million.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “We’ve made great strides towards our net zero target over the last year, but it’s more important than ever that we keep up the pace of change to fuel a green, sustainable recovery as we rebuild from the pandemic. The UK now has a huge opportunity to cement its place at the vanguard of green innovation, setting an example worldwide while growing the economy and creating new jobs.”
Business and Energy Secretary Alok Sharma added: “Climate change is among the greatest challenges of our age. To tackle it we need to unleash innovation in businesses across the country. This funding will reduce emissions, create green collar jobs and fuel a strong, clean economic recovery – all essential to achieving net zero emissions by 2050.”