U.K. to Cut Industrial Pollution by Two-Thirds in 15 Years

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K. government revealed plans to slash the amount of carbon dioxide spewed out by factories and other industrial processes by two-thirds within the next 15 years.

The Industrial Decarbonization Strategy published Wednesday is part of the U.K.’s ambition to effectively eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy allocated more than 1 billion pounds ($1.4 billion) to projects that can help drive down emissions in hospitals and schools, as well factories.

Cutting emissions from industry is one of the toughest areas in the fight against climate change. Furnaces reaching 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,700 Fahrenheit) are needed to forge steel or produce cement and renewable energy alone can’t produce those sorts of temperatures.

The new strategy sets an expectation for industry to switch 20 terawatt hours of its energy from fossil fuels to low carbon sources by 2030. That’s equivalent to 17% of all renewable energy generated by the U.K. in 2019.

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Ultra-high temperatures have conventionally been produced by burning coal or gas. That now has to change and the government is betting on the development of hydrogen to help replace fossil fuels, especially in energy intensive industries.

The 1 billion pounds of funding seeks to to try to get “private enterprise to do the heavy lifting,” Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said on BBC radio, Wednesday. “We’re trying to create incentives for private investors to go down the energy transition route.”

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The latest announcement on pollution and climate from Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government comes as lawmakers from around the world call for more ambition ahead of November’s crucial United Nations climate talks in Glasgow.

Johnson’s government on Tuesday committed to making climate change its top priority for foreign policy as the U.K. seeks to carve out a new role in the world after leaving the European Union.

There’s pressure on the U.K. to lead by example, an aspiration that has been called into question over its plans to build a new deep coal mine in northern England.

On Wednesday, Kwarteng said there were now “compelling reasons” not to allow the coal mine in Cumbria to go ahead. In the past he’d argued the mine will help the steel industry become greener because it will allow steel plants to use coal dug up at home rather than importing emissions.

Planning permission for the mine will now be subject to a public inquiry following concerns that it would derail the U.K.’s efforts to meet its target for net zero emissions.

The news also comes as the government seeks to revamp its industrial strategy. Earlier this month, Kwarteng scrapped a panel of high-profile business advisers that was set up about two and a half years ago to advise the government on its industrial strategy.

“ Government must also fully embrace the opportunities to save carbon through more efficient use of products and materials; the lowest carbon product is one you don’t make at all,” said Caterina Brandmayr, head of climate policy at thinktank Green Alliance. “We now need fast action to turn these promises into a suite of concrete policies.”

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