Plans unveiled for net zero carbon Humber Cluster

Plans to establish the Humber as a world-leading green industrial hub took a step forward today with the formal submission to government of a joint proposal to enable a Humber Cluster Plan that would deliver net zero emissions across the region by 2040.

The Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), membership organisation CATCH, and a coalition of eight businesses submitted the joint proposal to Innovate UK as part of the government's Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund scheme, which forms part of the £350m 'green recovery' package announced last month by Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

The initial bid is for £1.7m from government to support a £2.6m project that would see a comprehensive plan developed to deliver on the net zero emissions by 2040 goal.

The bid is backed by British Steel, Centrica, Drax, Equinor, National Grid Ventures, Phillips 66, SSE Thermal, and VPI Immingham, bringing together both leading carbon intensive businesses and emerging low carbon infrastructure providers. A wider group of businesses will also be involved in developing the plan, with all energy-intensive industries in the Humber invited to take part, the LEP said.

Advocates of the plan maintain the Humber has a critical role to play in the UK's net zero transition. The region is emits more CO2 than any other industrial cluster in the UK, boasting emissions that are 50 per cent higher than the next largest hub. Moreover, the region is both vulnerable to escalating flood risks, highly dependent on carbon intensive industries, and home to a growing cluster of clean tech specialists, including offshore wind and green fuel developers.

The proposed next phase of the Humber Cluster Plan follows initial funding from Innovate UK in April, which enabled the first phase of feasibility work on the plan to decarbonise the Humber cluster. 

The initial study found that the Humber is likely to need both fuel-switching and carbon capture capabilities if it is to achieve the scale of decarbonisation required to meet the UK's climate goals, as around half of the area's industrial emissions come from chemical reactions in industry processes and these cannot currently be abated by fuel switching.

A decision on the bid is expected in the autumn, with the project set to begin in January. Separate bids for the first projects to deploy a new wave of low carbon infrastructure are due to be submitted in October.

Stephen Parnaby, chair of the Humber LEP, said it was "imperative that the Humber region decarbonises on a huge scale - but in a way that safeguards our strategically important industries and creates new jobs and business opportunities". 

"Nowhere has greater potential to be at the heart of the green recovery than the Humber," he added. "The Humber Cluster Plan is a significant opportunity to achieve this by creating a clear pathway seeking to position the Humber as a global leader on this agenda.  With the support of our partners, we have put forward a compelling proposition to government and I look forward to a successful outcome."

The Humber is one of a number of industrial regions across the UK that are currently accelerating their decarbonisation plans and submitting bids to a number of government funding schemes that have been expanded or launched as part of Ministers' promised 'green recovery' strategy.

For example, last week gas and electricity network operators Cadent and Electricity North West published a report detailing how Greater Manchester could deliver net zero emissions by 2038 by stepping up investment in renewables and energy efficiency upgrades, while pioneering a switch from fossil fuel gas to green hydrogen through a new project dubbed HyNet North West.

The study, which has been presented to Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), argues the region has the opportunity to become an "energy transition lighthouse" for the rest of the UK - and beyond.

"We need to get this right first-time if Greater Manchester is going to be carbon neutral by 2038 and this report shows it can be done," said Dr Angela Needle, director of strategy at Cadent. "We know we can bring the hydrogen needed, but that needs action now - at local and national government level - to back very deliverable projects like HyNet North West."