The government has promised £20m of the funding to support the development of next generation CCUS technologies so they can be deployed at scale by 2030. It says this could include funding tech that widens the suitability of CCUS to a larger range of UK industrial uses such as chemicals and cement, reducing the cost of deploying CCUS and helping industrial waste or power sector companies to capture and store harmful emissions from the source, before they are emitted into the atmosphere
A further £20m will be used to establish a new virtual Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre that the government says will accelerate the decarbonisation of key energy-intensive industries which currently make a significant contribution to UK emissions. Run by Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, the centre will bring together new technologies and address the challenges faced by industrial areas, helping to provide solutions that reduce costs, risks and emissions.
The centre is designed to connect the UK industrial decarbonisation community with over 140 partners, including industry and business, government and regulatory agencies and leading academics, working together to deliver an innovation hub for industrial decarbonisation.
The government says the new green technology funding package is required to help the UK meet its world-leading climate targets. It has been announced six months after the publication of the Prime Minister Boris Johnson's 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution.
It will be used for technologies to address greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen, and also in helping find solutions to decarbonise the UK’s polluting sectors including manufacturing, steel, energy and waste.
Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said the investment "will encourage the rapid development of the technologies we need to reign in our emissions and transition to a green economy, one that reduces costs for business, boosts investment and creates jobs."
