Earlier
this month, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
released its full report laying out the strategy that will allow the UK
industrial sector to reach its 2050 decarbonisation goal. Building on the Prime
Minister’s Ten Point Plan and the Energy White Paper published in December
2020, the report incorporates the government’s pledge to maintain a thriving
and competitive industrial sector, and makes it clear that this strategy will
not lead to emissions and business being pushed abroad. Notably, the document also
includes an indicative roadmap to full industrial decarbonisation, including
key planned policy actions and major milestones.
Although
the Strategy has been drawn out in view of the 2050 target, the guidelines mainly
relate to the government’s first significant milestone, in 2035, by which it
expects that emissions should have decreased by two thirds. The Strategy points
to a number of key target areas to ensure a smooth transition towards a
sustainable national industry. These areas include the development of the
necessary decarbonisation infrastructure, the ramping up of bioenergy with carbon
capture and storage (BECCS), the increased production of low carbon fuels and
development of its associated markets, and the creation of funding mechanisms
to support energy producers and suppliers.
The
government aims to bring change to the UK industry by leaning heavily on major industrial
clusters across the country. Being industrial driving forces within the UK
economy, the production and employment rates of such clusters make them great
assets in this project. The Strategy’s new targets include ensuring the transition
of at least four clusters towards low carbon energy by 2030 and for at least
one cluster to reach net zero by 2040. These clusters will be required to put a
range of strategies and technologies in motion. More specifically, clusters
will be expected to capture 3 MtCO2 per year in total by 2030 and to
transition towards low carbon energies such as hydrogen, electricity and
bioenergy, which are presented as the main alternatives to current fossil-based
fuels in key sectors. To remain on track to 2050, the Strategy also stipulates
that at least 20TWh per year of fossil-based fuels should be replaced by low
carbon alternatives by 2030.
To
achieve this, the government intends to boost the Energy sector’s research and
development opportunities by increasing funding and by optimising the markets
for renewable energies, both nationally and internationally. It is also
understood that supporting investors and consumers in choosing renewable
energies will play a crucial role in the success of this endeavor. Therefore,
the development of a reliable and safe market, along with the establishment of
a trustworthy labelling system are part of the government’s priorities.
This
is the most detailed roadmap to net zero published by the government so far. It
provides key dates and milestones, and clearly establishes the government’s
action plan. To add to this logistics-heavy report, targeted reports will be
released in 2022 to provide details on the development of specific energies and
technologies. In particular, a Bioenergy Strategy will provide details
on the amount of sustainable biomass available to the UK for the production of
bioenergy, and will provide guidelines of how best to use these resources
across the industrial sectors. Finally, the Bioenergy Strategy will also
give more extensive information on the implementation of BECCS technology.