A huge show of support for the Zero Carbon Humber bid has been outlined to Energy and Clean Growth Minister Kwasi Kwarteng.
An open letter has been sent to the key government figure by the 12-partner coalition calling for his backing of the £75 million submission, with those behind it describing the hydrogen production and carbon capture and storage network proposal as “critical to achieving Net Zero”.
The outline to the submission is backed up by 45 formal letters from businesses, business organisations, academic institutions, training providers and supply chain networks.
Together they form “compelling evidence of the strength and breadth of regional, national and international support for the ground-breaking project” according to the ZCH team.
The pan-Humber proposal would link the most carbon intensive industrial processes with a parallel pipeline, helping fuel switch while mitigating emissions with a route to subsea storage.
The , signed by the 12 - representatives of Associated British Ports, British Steel, Centrica Storage, Drax, Equinor, Mitsubishi Power, National Grid Ventures, PX Group, SSE Thermal, Triton Power, Uniper and University of Sheffield Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre - states that they “believe this illustrates the unified strength of Zero Carbon Humber Partnership’s bid to make the Humber the world’s first net zero industrial cluster by 2040".
It was sent ahead of his address to the Humber's The Waterline summit on Friday (October 23).
Among the contributors independent of the partnerhsip, the Norwegian-British Chamber of Commerce said that “this partnership stands out as a beacon of how businesses take on their social and environmental responsibility”; the Global Carbon Capture & Storage Institute added that it was “promising to see ambitious climate efforts being mirrored by 海角视频 industry leaders”; and the 海角视频’s Energy Institute noted that the project “offers a great opportunity for industry to collaborate to advance towards 2050 targets, preserve and create jobs, and rebalance the economy”.
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Also within the letter submissions, and referencing the need for a ‘just transition’ to a low carbon economy, Louise Smith, director of Aura Innovation Centre wrote: “CCUS and hydrogen have a central role to play in creating a resilient, inclusive and innovation driven regional economy that delivers clean growth for the Humber. With a third of the Humber’s economy based on high carbon jobs, an inclusive transition to low carbon is critical to the place and its people. The technologies developed on the back of a successful bid in the Humber will protect the region against flooding and lead the world in the fight against climate change.”
Noting the opportunity for this project to stimulate post-Covid growth in the North, Beckie Hart, Yorkshire & Humber regional director at the Confederation of British Industry stated: “At a time when economic considerations are higher up the agenda than ever, the potential for the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership to secure existing industries whilst also bringing new jobs, skills, growth and investment to the region is a considerable benefit for generations to come.
"Business and government share the priority to build back greener, and better from the pandemic, and support for the Zero Carbon Humber Partnership would deliver investment at this crucial juncture, both for our economic recovery, and pathway to net-zero emissions.”
In relation to the prospect of underpinning a future hydrogen economy in the Humber, Peter O’Sullivan, chief executive of international engineering firm Penspen, said: “Zero Carbon Humber is an important first step and will decarbonise the 海角视频’s largest industrial region. It is well positioned to do so because it builds on existing skills and infrastructure – it has existing sources of hydrogen production from the refineries in the region, it has a well-established skill-base and it is close to reservoirs in the Southern North Sea which will play an important role in both scaling up hydrogen production and providing CO2 storage.”
The role of the Humber in unlocking large scale hydrogen development was highlighted on the final day of The Waterline Summit 2020.
In its ‘Hydrogen for the Future: Delivering Zero-Carbon in Heavy Industry’ document presented on Sustainable Financing Day, sponsor HSBC said the region has already identified 60 industrial companies that could be early stage adopters of low-carbon hydrogen.
The full list of bid supporters: Alternative & Renewable Transport (ART) Fuels Forum; Apollo Engineering; Aura Innovation Centre; Bishop Burton College; Catch; C-Capture; Confederation of British Industry (CBI); DN Colleges Group; DNV GL; East Riding of Yorkshire Council; E&D Talent; Energy Institute; Engie; ETN Global; EU Turbines; Federation of Small Businesses (FSB); G2W Ventures; Global Carbon Capture & Storage (CCS) Institute; GMB Union; Greater Lincolnshire LEP; Grimsby Institute; Hull City Council; Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce; Humber LEP; Humber Offshore Training Association (HOTA); Make 海角视频; Marketing Humber; Mitsubishi Heavy Industries; North Lincolnshire Council; North East Lincolnshire Council; Northern Powerhouse Partnership; Norwegian British Chamber of Commerce; NP11; ORE Catapult; OSL Consulting; Penspen; Premier Oil; RMRI Consulting; Siemens Energy; Team Humber Marine Alliance; University of Hull; University of Leeds; University of Sheffield; Women into Manufacturing & Engineering and York & North Yorkshire LEP.