£90m carbon-cutting plans could create two million UK jobs

The UK energy minister has announced a £90m plan to cut carbon emissions in industry and homes which it says could create two million jobs.

The plan, set out by Kwasi Kwarteng, will fund low carbon production plants, the development wind-harnessing technology, and projects aimed at cutting household emissions.

£70m will go towards two of Europe’s first ever large scale, low carbon hydrogen production plants, one on the banks of the Mersey and the second near Aberdeen.

Part of that funding will also go towards developing technology to harness offshore wind to power electrolysis and produce hydrogen.

The government statement said: “Cleaning up emissions from industry and housing is a big challenge but today’s £90 million investment will set us on the right path as we develop clean technologies like hydrogen.

“This is an important part of our world-leading efforts in eliminating our contribution to climate change by 2050 while also growing our economy, creating up to 2 million green collar jobs across the country by 2030.”

The remaining £20m will be used to fund ‘smart-energy’ projects aimed at cutting household emissions and bills.

The statement added: “This investment in low carbon innovation will be crucial to help us end our contribution to climate change by 2050.”