The UK Government has earmarked £51.9 million ($63.2m) to 25 businesses adopting emissions-cutting projects as part of the Plan for Change which targets economic growth and Net Zero emissions by 2050.
Allocated under the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund, the government will back industries as varied as food manufacturing, cement production and glass processing.
A statement released last week by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero revealed that recipients include Essar Oil UK, Heinz’s Wigan baked bean factory, Nestle’s coffee facility in Staffordshire, Hanson Cement in North Wales and a craft beer company in Cornwall.
“These companies represent some of the best of business innovation – using new technologies to improve how we do things, become more sustainable and continue to make the British products we love – from baked beans to beer,” said Minister for Industry Sarah Jones.
These technologies include a £1.8m ($2.2m) carbon capture unit to be delivered to Essar Oil UK’s Stanlow Refinery. The unit will cut emissions by 86m tonnes per year by capturing 95% of CO2 using fluid catalytic cracking through advanced absorption technology.
A separate £429,000 ($521,000) grant will be used to retrofit over 30 heaters at the site to burn low-carbon hydrogen, reducing emissions by over half a million tonnes annually.
Hanson Cement will use its £5.6m ($6.8m) grant to support its multi-million-pound carbon capture and storage project, set to capture 800,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.
Other projects include Ultra Tough’s £155,000 ($189,000) study to convert furnace waste heat into electricity and Novelis’s £14m ($17m) investment in Warrington to boost recycling and cut 350,000 tons of carbon emissions. The initiative is two-thirds funded by businesses, driving emissions-reduction technologies.
Commenting on the announcement, Saji Jacob, Head of West Europe Supply Chain, Heinz, said, “It represents a critical step in our decarbonisation journey towards Net Zero. The UK business recognises the significance of the investment and is committed to further utilising this technology across our company.”
The government has also finalised the UK’s first carbon capture project in Teesside, which is part of a £21.7bn ($26.4bn) funding commitment to realise the UK’s vision for carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) in the UK.
