Richard has welcomed the government announcement that some of the UK’s most polluting industries will benefit from £40 million funding to help them cut their carbon emissions, while reducing their energy bills.
Businesses in energy-intensive sectors, including pharmaceuticals, steel, paper and food and drink, will be able to apply for grants worth up to £14 million through the government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund – totalling £289 million in funding up until 2024. In this second competition window, the minimum grant has been lowered to £100,000 for deployment projects, offering more flexibility for small businesses to receive funding so they can speed up getting their ideas to market.
These government grants will enable businesses to use new technology to improve the efficiency of industrial processes and reduce energy demand and drive them towards a cleaner, more sustainable future as part of our green industrial revolution by 2030 and mission to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050.
This includes factories installing electric motors and heat pumps to replace their natural gas-fired boilers and steam turbines, manufacturers using heat recovery technology to recycle waste heat and generate renewable electricity, and industries such as the food and drink sector carrying out studies to replace natural gas with hydrogen as their primary fuel. Doing so will create and support thousands of British jobs, cut carbon emissions and lead to cleaner air for the people of the UK.
Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire and a member of the Business and Energy Select Committee said: "By investing this money to support some of the UK’s most polluting industries, we are helping them to reduce their carbon emissions, driving them towards a cleaner, more sustainable future and supporting thousands of jobs as we build back greener.
"Tackling climate change requires a collective effort and as the first major country to legislate for net zero emissions by 2050, we will only achieve this ambition if everyone plays their part, including businesses large and small.
"Through the Industrial Energy Transformational Fund, businesses in energy-intensive sectors can now benefit from grants worth up to £14 million to support them in transitioning to new technology to reduce carbon emissions, helping create more opportunities for growth and green jobs."
The government’s Industrial Energy Transformation Fund is worth £289 million with funding available across England, Wales and Northern Ireland up until 2024. The fund supports heavy industry as the UK transitions to a low-carbon economy. This announcement follows an initial launch in June 2020 which saw 39 applications approved for funding in the first window, totalling £31 million.
It is calculated that as a result of these projects carbon emissions will be reduced by 2.6 million tonnes over their lifespan, which is equivalent to taking 38,000 fossil-fuelled cars off the road over a 30 year period.
