Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a £350m funding package today (July 22) to support the green economy and tackle climate change.
The investment will support the UK’s ambitions to reach net zero by 2050 by funding the decarbonisation of the heavy industry, construction, space and transport and stimulating green innovation.
Projects set to benefit from the funding including those working on using data more effectively to tackle climate change, helping companies to be more energy efficient and driving the creation of green jobs in UK industries.
Today will also see the first of the Jet Zero Council meetings, uniting Government, industry leaders and environmental sector representatives to work on developing the first ever zero emission long-haul passenger plane.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
“We’ve made great strides towards our net zero target over the last year, but it’s more important than ever that we keep up the pace of change to fuel a green, sustainable recovery as we rebuild from the pandemic.
“The UK now has a huge opportunity to cement its place at the vanguard of green innovation, setting an example worldwide while growing the economy and creating new jobs.
“That’s why we’re backing cutting edge research to cut costs and carbon across our great British industries, and even paving the way for the first ever zero emission long haul passenger flight – so that our green ambitions remain sky high as we build back better for both our people and our planet.”
£149m will be used to boost innovative materials in heavy industry, including recyclable steel and proposals to reuse waste ash in the glass and ceramics industry.
£139m will go on emission cutting in heavy industry, the use of hydrogen power and scaling up of carbon capture and storage technology.
The rest of the funding will go on Space innovation, the automotive sector and developing new building techniques and technology such as “digital clones” of building that analyse data, to reduce carbon emissions in the construction sector.
