Key figures leading on the Humber’s Net Zero ambition have underlined what they want COP26 to achieve as the attention of the world settles on the 海角视频 next month.
Setting the stall out for the Energy Estuary’s pioneering plans to take pole position, the focus of the launch of The Waterline Summit was also on the finish line for the upcoming United Nations climate change conference.
Enabling policy, a clear pathway to hitting enhanced targets and acceleration of the roll out of solutions were seen as vital - while putting the Humber first.
Read more: COP26 president's call to offshore wind firms to drive change across the global economy
It came as a cinematic 17-minute film created to take to Glasgow underlined the critical role the region can play and the urgency, with strong contributions from across the area.
Showcasing the test bed credentials and developing decarbonisation plans, it brought emotion and impact to the bare facts that it is a place with the most to contribute - and lose.
The worst polluting industrial cluster sits at sea level, making interests several-fold - with importance of emphasis underlined at local, national and international levels.
Louise Minchin, former BBC Breakfast presenter chaired the opener, with Equinor, Orsted, Yorkshire Water, University of Hull and Yorkshire Energy Park brought together.
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Equinor is looking to bring hydrogen production to Saltend, as the anchor for the Zero Carbon Humber network.
Dominic Martin, Equinor’s vice president for government and regulatory affairs, said: “If the government wants to hit Net Zero targets, it has to start in the Humber. There is no getting away from that fact.
“12.4 million tonnes is the amount of carbon the Humber produces at the moment, if we want to reach the goal - to have the Humber in the 海角视频 as the world’s first net zero industrial cluster - we need to do something about that. I think we can do it, it is about optimism and recognising the scale of the challenge.
“We see the Humber as the focus of our future growth. We have seen the technology, it works, and there are real possibilities for taking traditional energy intensive industries and turning them into productive low carbon parts of the future economy.
“Places that move first have huge advantages by being the incumbent, look at Silicon Valley.”
Alongside hydrogen distribution comes carbon capture and storage - one of two such schemes alive on the Humber.
On the South Bank, Orsted’s world-leading role in offshore wind - anchored in Grimsby - is turning to green hydrogen production too, uniting with Phillips 66 Humber Refinery to fuel switch as the sector looks to clean up.
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Patrick Harnett, senior programme director, said: “We have the technology now, the main thing is we have to put it into practice. We need to put it out there, and get it built as fast as we can. We have more time now than we ever will have, we have got to start now. Some of the biggest challenges are around policy - we have got the technology, we need the policy to make it happen.
“It would be great to have the Glasgow Agreement rather than the Paris Agreement - a new commitment to carbon reduction. Our CEO, Mads Nipper, is there to talk about the transition we have been through , and I’d like to see enlightenment, understanding of how it can be done, then some concrete policy changes throughout the world that can do it.
"We have the technology, we just need the change of policy to make it happen. Also, financially, we need access to the money to make the transition, and it needs to come fast.”
For Prof Dan Parsons, director of University of Hull’s Energy and Environment Institute, it presents an opportunity to drive fundamental change.
He said: “The biggest problem we have is the systematic change we need to address, as a global community, and that’s why COP 26 is so important, as big policy levers can be pulled and have an effect - carbon accounting, new economic models to drive change, subsidies instead of going to oil and gas go to renewable energy - they are the big changes we need to see.
“The Humber has a massive role to play in this, all the exciting things happening and additional investment. The biggest offshore wind farms, the reduction in cost - green hydrogen, it is all part of the mix that makes the Humber unique. I get really excited about green hydrogen as that’s a solution that really is Net Zero, and there’s a role for sequestration and storing carbon.
“I want to see a whole set of legally binding carbon credit agreements, the ‘Glasgow Agreement’.
“We have to halve our CO2 emissions this decade, we are not even near it. It is like having a bath 90 per cent full and still turning the taps on. We need to turn the taps off and pull the plug out, that’s where we are.”
And while a select few leaders will have the immediate chance, Prof Parsons said we can all have our say, with the application of political pressure even more important than trimming individual carbon footprints.
“We all have a role to play and the biggest role we can play is lobbying government for the systematic change we need,” he said.
One fresh voice on that was Amy Meek, co-founder of Kids Against Plastic, and member of Prof Parsons’ youth advisory board.
The 18-year-old said: “We have got to all stop talking about it and do it. COP has been going for longer than I have been alive, and I look at what has come from it and we have the Paris Climate Agreement, and you could argue it didn’t go far enough and is not implemented properly. I want an ambitious roadmap, we need to see what is being decided there so we can all play our part, hold to account and make it happen.”
Underlining the urgency, Liz Barber, chief executive of Yorkshire Water, had told how the utility giant was dealing with the impact of climate change now.
“It is not coming, we are in it,” she said, reflecting on the direct impact of flooding and soil movement as a result of the building intensity of downpours. ”In the past five years we have had several storms and a drought. We are in it, we are having to adapt and meet Net Zero targets at the same time.”
On this she said skills had to be part of the transition.
“The region has suffered from reductions in steel, mining and chemicals. What I really want is skills transfer. It needs to be a big transition to a Net Zero economy with a real focus on delivering and protection of skills, to make sure it doesn’t adversely impact the industry.”
Closing, Mr Martin said a failure here would be carbon leakage, if 30 years on the heavy industry does not exist and the same products are being imported.
“We need to find alternative ways of delivering these products in a low carbon way and ensure they compete fairly with carbon intensive products,” he said.
'Talk to us here in the Humber, invest in Net Zero activity here in the Humber'
Praise for the film came from an expert in the field.
Ms Minchin said: “You only had to have watched me over the last 20 years, and particularly over the last few years, to have the briefest glimpse of the impact climate change is having, you can really see the impact,” she said, referring to wildfires, flash floods and fatal heatwaves covered in her broadcast career.
“The opportunity to make real change is here. I loved the film, it was brilliant; it didn’t underestimate the scale of the challenge, but was really optimistic, and a real call to action for everybody here.”
Bill Walker, chair of Marketing Humber, said it and The Waterline Summit as a whole, were extremely timely, putting the region on the global stage, with a focus on “accelerating still further the compelling cluster of global business partners, national organisations and local stakeholders” keen to act.
Hull and East Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership chair, James Newman, said: “The Waterline Summit will leave you in no doubt that action is needed and needed now.
“My sincere hope is that the Prime Minister, ministers and those who will hear about what is going on here, that if they are serious about climate change and bringing lots of complex answers together, they will want to come and talk to us here in the Humber, and invest in Net Zero activity in the Humber."
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