Energy Systems Catapult publishes report calling on policymakers to drive industrial decarbonisation
Energy Systems Catapult has released a new report calling for policy to consider developing industrial clusters as a key component of a broader national strategy and policy framework to drive industrial decarbonisation across the economy.
Energy Systems Catapult has released a new report calling for policy to consider developing industrial clusters as a key component of a broader national strategy and policy framework to drive industrial decarbonisation across the economy.
Energy Systems Catapult are building on the insights from our Rethinking Decarbonisation Incentives project, to develop credible policy options for an efficient and socially beneficial transition.
In this report, ESC highlight key themes for policymakers to consider in developing industrial clusters as a key component of a broader national strategy and policy framework to drive industrial decarbonisation across the economy.
The proposals draw on Energy Systems Catapult’s whole systems approach, our work on Net Zero Carbon Policy, and our work with innovators and clusters across the UK.
Industrial clusters are responsible for over half of the UK’s industrial emissions, with many ideally situated for use of carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS) for abatement and/or negative emissions, as well as low carbon hydrogen production and use.
The Government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy also contains positive steps towards an enduring long-term policy framework that can drive the major investments required to deliver deep emissions reduction in industry, where there may only be one asset replacement cycle between now and 2050.
What remains less clear is the role that industrial clusters can and should play in enabling:
- decarbonisation of industrial sites located outside of industrial clusters, known as dispersed sites, which when combined can also form ‘mini-clusters’;
- broader decarbonisation across the economy.
Energy Systems Catapult have identified four areas of key challenges to unlock synergies between industrial clusters and wider decarbonisation of industry and the energy system:
- Leveraging cluster investment and trials
- Ensuring investment in clusters is beneficial for the whole system
- Integrating with Local Area Energy Planning
- Managing the international dimension of industrial decarbonisation
Read the full article here.