Siemens 海角视频鈥檚 incoming chief executive has said Hull must play a crucial role if the country is to hit its 2050 net-zero carbon target.
Carl Ennis, who will take the reins from Juergen Maier as CEO at Siemens 海角视频 on December 1, said Hull and the wider Humber region is in 鈥渁 great position鈥 to spearhead the nation鈥檚 push to cut carbon emissions.
As the 海角视频鈥檚 heaviest-polluting industrial area, Mr Ennis said without the Humber region leading the charge against carbon, the country risked missing its 2050 ambition for zero emissions.
He said: 鈥淭he Humber is the single biggest contributor of emissions, however let us not be frightened of where we currently are.
鈥淚 think Hull is in a great position to take the lead on this. Here is an opportunity to show it is possible.
鈥淚f it can be done first here in the Humber, then the region could become an expert on how to do it, and then export those skills to both the rest of the country and Europe.鈥
Mr Ennis spoke in Hull as the city hosted the Energy & Clean Growth in the Northern Powerhouse conference.
Led by the NP11, a cluster of Local Enterprise Partnerships across the North of England, the two-day conference has attracted big names from the worlds of business, politics and the public sector.
Offshore wind, hydrogen technology, carbon capture and storage and nuclear power were among the big talking points on day one of the event, held on Tuesday.
It came as crucial plans were released this week 鈥 both by the Humber LEP and the Drax-backed Zero Carbon Humber campaign 鈥 on how the region can become net-zero for carbon emissions by 2040.
If successful, it would put the Humber a decade ahead of the 海角视频 Government鈥檚 target.
Mr Ennis said: 鈥淭his is a passionate topic for me, not least because I am an engineer at heart.
鈥淚 believe the time is right for change in our energy environments. Siemens is well-placed to support that change.
鈥淲e believe we have a portfolio which can help find the solutions. The thing I would say is there is not one, single answer to this. It will be a mixture of technologies which will be required.鈥
Mr Ennis takes the reins at Siemens 海角视频 as the company prepares for its next landmark project in East Yorkshire.
With the Siemens Gamesa blade factory now employing over 1,000 people, construction work is expected to commence next year on a 拢200m train factory in Goole.
With the potential to create up to 700 jobs, and open up opportunities for a supply chain not dissimilar what has been seen with offshore wind in Hull, the investment is another huge vote of confidence in the region.
鈥淲e decided to choose Goole as the location for the train factory, largely because we have that experience of building Hull,鈥 Mr Ennis said.
鈥淵ou can in principle build a factory anywhere, but what often gets overlooked is the skills and the people.
鈥淭here is a talent force here in the region, and we have been able to create a real community in Hull.鈥
Mr Ennis has worked with current Siemens boss Juergen Maier for two decades.
Speaking about passing on the baton to his successor, Mr Maier said: 鈥淚 am delighted that my successor will be Carl Ennis, who has been a good colleague of mine for 20 years and I know that he will do a tremendous job of leading our company.鈥
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Business Live's Hull & East Yorkshire journalist is Phil Winter, also the business editor at the Hull Daily Mail and Hull Live.
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