Humber LEP secures nearly £100k in government funding for industrial decarbonisation

A Yorkshire organisation has received nearly £100k in government funding to help decarbonise the region.

Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and membership organisation CATCH have secured £96k in funding to start work on a roadmap to support the Humber’s plans to decarbonise the region.

The LEP has said that it believes the plans will attract more industries to the region.

The joint bid for funding from Innovate UK will enable the first phase of work on a detailed decarbonisation delivery plan for the region’s main industrial cluster, which will aim to protect jobs and industries while reducing carbon emissions.

If the roadmap plans are approved could lead to a multi-million pound bid to develop the roadmap itself in phase two.

The plan will include measures such as carbon capture, usage and storage and hydrogen fuel switching.

Lord Haskins, chairman of the Humber LEP, commented: “The climate change crisis will not be addressed without close collaboration between the government, industry and places across the UK, so we are pleased to be working with partners on a roadmap to enable this in the Humber.

“As the highest emitting industrial cluster in the country, our region has the potential to make the biggest difference in the fight to reduce emissions.

“As today’s announcement shows, businesses are developing projects that will enable us to do that at pace.”

David Talbot, CEO of CATCH, added: “We are thrilled to collaborate with the Humber LEP and win this bid to solve the biggest challenge facing our industries over the next few decades.

“We need to ensure not just the competitiveness of our much-needed energy intensive industries, but also their survival – we want to see these vital businesses stay in the Humber and decarbonisation is central to this.”