Thousands of UK jobs on the horizon as government invests £166m into green tech

The government has today announced that it is investing more than £166m into green technology that it says will create thousands of jobs.

The £166.5m funding package will be awarded to businesses and innovators across the UK, developing technologies in climate control and polluting sector decarbonisation.

More than a third of the funding - £60m - will go towards the development of low carbon hydrogen in the UK, and to identifying and scaling up more efficient solutions for producing clean hydrogen from water.

This portion of the funding is expected to create around 8,000 hydrogen jobs.

Greenhouse gas removal methods will also be tackled by the funding package, with £37.5m going towards new designs and projects.

The remainder of the funding will be used to develop new technologies that help energy-intensive sectors cut their emissions, to develop green innovations and to establish a new Transforming Foundation Industries Research and Innovation Hub.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, energy minister, commented: “We are determined to tackle climate change and make it win-win for both our planet and our economy.

“Today’s major cash boost – targeted at our most polluting industries - will encourage the rapid development of the technologies we need to reign in our emissions and transition to a green economy, one that reduces costs for business, boosts investment and create jobs.

“Just 6 months ago, the prime minister set out a clear 10 Point Plan for creating and supporting up to 250,000 British jobs as we level up and build back greener from the pandemic.

“Today we’re boosting our armoury for the fight against climate change and backing innovators and businesses to create green jobs right across the United Kingdom.”

Bryony Livesey, challenge director for UK Research & Innovation’s (UKRI) Industrial Decarbonisation challenge, said: “The introduction of the Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre concept shows the commitment to not only fund large scale decarbonisation efforts, but to make sure we continually learn from and adapt to their early results and challenges.

“By enabling the Centre to build evidence on a range of areas from direct costs and emissions to skilled jobs and wider net zero policy, we believe we are creating a more adaptive and responsible path for the UK’s big industry to take to remain at the forefront of a global low carbon culture.”