A total of £1.7m government funding has been secured for the Humber Cluster Plan – a comprehensive plan for decarbonisation in our region, which will show how the Humber cluster can achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, potentially making it the first in the world to do so.

This joint bid by the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership and CATCH also involves eight private sector partner organisations and was submitted to Innovate UK as part of the Government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge Fund scheme, part of the £350m green recovery package announced by the Prime Minister in July.

The project, totalling £2.6m, will move the Humber closer to achieving large-scale decarbonisation, with businesses across the Humber working to find effective and lasting solutions for the region.

The eight partner organisations supporting the Humber Cluster Plan are: British Steel, Centrica, Drax, Equinor, National Grid Ventures, Phillips 66, SSE Thermal and VPI Immingham. They include the strategically important refining and steel sectors, as well as major energy producers and low carbon infrastructure providers. A wider group of businesses will be involved in developing the plan, with all energy-intensive industries in the Humber invited to take part.

Stephen Parnaby OBE, Chair of the Humber LEP, said: “We are thrilled our funding bid for the Humber Cluster Plan has been successful. This is a significant opportunity to achieve industrial decarbonisation at a large scale in our region, which has the potential to protect important jobs while helping us to achieve our Net Zero ambitions by 2040.

“This successful outcome has only been possible with the support of our industry partners, who have illustrated there is a huge appetite in the Humber to innovate, collaborate and strive for solutions to create a cleaner, greener future for our vital industries.”

David Talbot, CEO of CATCH, said: “We are delighted that our collaboration with the Humber LEP and industrial partners to form the Humber Industrial Cluster Plan has been successful in securing funding to deliver a route to net zero by 2040 for the regions industrial decarbonisation activities.

“CATCH membership represent some of the UKs highest CO2 emitters and we look forward to developing the regions ambitions to deliver a plan that is central to tackling the net zero challenge.

“Our industry in the Humber region is strategically important and today’s announcement will ensure that existing industry is sustainable, whilst attracting new innovative green businesses to the region and upskilling, protecting and creating jobs for the local community.”