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n its recently published progress decarbonisation of energy intensive
report to Parliament, assessing sectors, including iron and steel,
the UK’s progress in reducing chemical and textile production,
emissions and adapting to climate and transform them into low carbon
I change, the Climate Change manufacturing hubs.
Committee (CCC) acknowledged the This will drive global investment
historic climate promises made by the and create internal markets for
UK government over the past year, low carbon technologies, including
but states that it has been “too slow to hydrogen. The hydrogen produced
follow these with delivery”. in these industrial clusters can be
The UK government has recently used for flexible power generation,
published a suite of documents that transport and heat applications.
set out its strategy to decarbonise More recently, the UK government
the energy system and tackle climate announced a new, more challenging
change: the 10-Point Plan for a Green target to reduce the UK’s emissions by
Industrial Revolution, the Energy at least 68 per cent by 2030, compared
White Paper, the UK Hydrogen to 1990 levels and builds on this goal to
Strategy, the Heat and Buildings achieve a 78 per cent reduction by 2035.
Strategy and the Net Zero Strategy. IGEM welcomes this more ambitious
The measures set out in the Energy target, which is aligned with the
White Paper are estimated to reduce recommendations set out by the CCC
carbon emissions across power, industry and demonstrates the UK’s leadership
and buildings by up to 230MtCO₂e in the as part of the November 2021 UN
period to 2032 (compared to 451MtCO₂e COP26 climate summit hosted by the
in 2018), and in delivering this, support UK government.
up to 220,000 jobs per year by 2030.
Alongside investment in areas ‘The UK aims to be a world
such as offshore wind, heat pump leader in decarbonising industry
installation, carbon capture
utilisation and storage (CCUS) and the with the development of
development of industrial clusters, industrial clusters across the UK
there are promising commitments
made to hydrogen, with government But to achieve these more challenging
analysis suggesting that a third of the targets, government and industry must
UK’s energy consumption could be act with urgency. IGEM sees the potential
hydrogen-based by 2050. for increased biomethane injection,
Key commitments include a target hydrogen blending and hydrogen for
of 5GW of low carbon hydrogen transport all offering a meaningful
production capacity by 2030, equivalent contribution to the UK’s 2030 target.
to the amount of gas consumed by over In terms of current low carbon
three million households in the UK gas supplies to the network, the
each year, and aiming for 1GW by 2025 UK government has reaffirmed its
(embracing both electrolytic and carbon commitment to increase the proportion
capture-enabled methods that can both of biomethane injected into the gas grid
achieve a net zero outcome). and to accelerate the decarbonisation
In addition, the government has of gas supplies, with the expectation of
committed to a £240 million Net trebling the amount of biomethane in the
Zero Hydrogen Fund, an ongoing grid between 2018 and 2030 - supported
commitment to hydrogen heating by the Green Gas Support Scheme that
trials and a scaling up of hydrogen replaces the Renewable Heat Incentive.
infrastructure for the development of Quickly ramping up production will
a Hydrogen Neighbourhood by 2023, a allow more biomethane to be injected into
large Hydrogen Village by 2025 and a the gas grid for heating and use in trucks,
Hydrogen Town by 2030. while additional low carbon options are
IGEM welcomes the UK government’s being developed and scaled up.
acknowledgement that there is a HyDeploy, funded by Ofgem and led by
need for further hydrogen research, Cadent and Northern Gas Networks, is
changes to gas quality regulations and the UK’s first pilot project to inject zero-
investment in the gas network to enable carbon hydrogen into the gas network.
this to happen. The project is exploring the potential
The UK aims to be a world leader for safely blending up to 20 per cent
in decarbonising industry with the hydrogen into the current gas supply.
development of industrial clusters Enabling hydrogen blending to be
across the UK. These regional widespread across the gas network
concentrations of industries and will provide a valuable contribution to
economic activity will drive the carbon emissions in the short term, with

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