The UK government is investing £166 million into green technology and development in a move that is set to create 60,000 jobs.

The cash injection is intended to drive forward developments in critical technology needed to fuel the government’s ‘green industrial revolution’ strategy including carbon capture, greenhouse gas removal and hydrogen while also helping find solutions to decarbonise the UK’s polluting sectors including manufacturing, steel, energy and waste.

The funding package will help benefit energy-intensive businesses like Tate & Lyle, BAE Systems and Celsa Manufacturing to deliver “game changing” green technologies.

This move comes as the UK sets out its plans to meet its climate commitments, including reaching net zero emissions by 2050 and the world’s most ambitious climate target of reducing UK emissions by 78 per cent by 2035 compared to 1990 levels.

Prime minister Boris Johnson has also committed to a 10 Point Plan which aims to remove 10 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, generate 5GW of hydrogen by 2030, and create 250,000 green jobs across the UK.

The funding announced today includes £60 million to support the development of low carbon hydrogen in the UK and to identify and scale-up more efficient solutions for making clean hydrogen from water using electricity.

It also includes £37.5 million to fund the largest government programme of greenhouse gas removal methods. Of this, 24 projects across England and Wales will receive up to £250,000 to fund innovative designs that develop new ways of removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and store them safely, and a further 5 projects will receive up to £4.5 million each to investigate the viability of adopting greenhouse gas removal methods at scale.

A further £20 million will support the development of the next generation carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) technologies so they can be deployed at scale by 2030.

And £20 million will establish a new virtual Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre that will accelerate the decarbonisation of key energy-intensive industries which currently make a significant contribution to UK emissions.

Energy Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said: “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.”

Challenge Director for UK Research & Innovation’s (UKRI) Industrial Decarbonisation challenge Dr Bryony Livesey 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."

She added: “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.”

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