UK Government provide £12.4 million to help cut industry emissions

The UK Government has announced that it will be providing £12.4 million in funding to help some of the most polluting industries find ways to reduce their carbon emissions and energy bills.

The Government has said that this money will help businesses across England, Wales and Northern Ireland to “clean up their industrial processes and improve their energy efficiency, benefiting industries including pharmaceuticals, steel, paper, and food and drink”.

Awarded as part of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), the UK Government hopes that the money will increase the energy efficiency of British projects’ industrial processes, including food processing.

“Boosting the energy efficiency of industrial processes is a critical step not only in our transition to a lower-carbon economy, but also by helping businesses to cut their energy costs and protect valuable British jobs,” said Graham Stuart, Minister at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

“That’s why the government has stepped in once again to support energy intensive industries, with a fresh funding round to unleash the next generation of green innovators who are re-shaping the way technology can reduce carbon emissions.”

Claiming that industry is currently responsible for producing 16 percent of the UK’s emissions, the UK Government has said that the country needs to cut emissions by two thirds by 2035 for the UK to achieve its net zero target.

One of the winning projects includes sustainably harvesting food in Carmarthenshire, Wales. This project reportedly harvests through a new air source heat pump system, something that captures waste heat to dry, heat, crush and grind materials for roadmaking in South Yorkshire. It also uses “revolutionary high temperature heat pumps” in order to reduce the energy needed to heat and cool cheese, consequently reducing emissions in dairy farms across the Midlands.

“Eating its own capital”: Investing in a planet-friendly food system

The UK Government has said that the funding will play a “crucial role in helping to clean up big-emitting industries as part of the UK’s green industrial revolution” by decarbonising industrial processes and reducing their reliance on costly fossil fuels, such as gas. The government has explained that this means businesses will be able to save on their energy bills while simultaneously safeguarding thousands of British jobs.

As part of an on-going funding project, the UK Government has highlighted that £34.8 million in funding has been awarded so far through the IETF since its launch in 2020.