The NP11 was joined by Lord Callanan in Hull to discuss the immense Net Zero energy expertise and opportunity across the North.
• Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance joined the NP11 at a special event on October 19th showcasing the North’s Net Zero capabilities.
• The Under-Secretary of State joined a roundtable with key industry and public sector figures to discuss the Net Zero opportunities in the Humber and across the North.
• The event was hosted by chair of the NP11, Clare Hayward, at Reckitt’s Science and Innovation Centre in Hull.
• The North already generates 50 per cent of England’s renewable energy and is decarbonising at a rate 13 per cent faster than the country as a whole.
• The NP11’s ‘Net Zero North: Collaboration Powering Global Britain’ report estimates that an additional £6 billion of additional value can be unlocked in the region by investing in leadership and collaboration.
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, Lord Callanan, joined the NP11 and a delegation of northern energy experts in Hull on October 19th.
Over the course of an hour-long roundtable, hosted by chair of the NP11, Clare Hayward, at Reckitt’s Science and Innovation Centre in Hull, representatives from HEY LEP, Equinor, Drax, Orsted and Nature North engaged in a dialogue and offered their experiences to the minister. Dr Bruce Charlesworth Group Chief Medical Officer & Hull Campus Lead also joined the discussion.
Calls were made for more investment and commitment from the Government to support Net Zero ambitions and to help unlock further private investment both from the UK and internationally.
Many of the businesses around the table were investing in new low and zero-carbon technologies and emphasised that they were a major part of the national solution to concerns over carbon emissions and energy security. Businesses wanted the confidence to invest further in their own Net Zero capabilities and to progress together.
Clare Hayward MBE, DL Interim Chair of the NP11, said:
“We are delighted to have been able to host Lord Callanan and offer unrivalled industry insight into the innovative work that this region is undertaking.
“The North has a very strong energy story to tell. The North has some major energy opportunities to join up work going on from coast to coast, from Net Zero North West through to the significant assets here in the East.
“We are looking forward to working together to strengthen the partnership between the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Northern leadership, and industry to deliver on the significant opportunity here in the North that will impact the wider UK economy.”
Lord Callanan, Minister for Energy Efficiency and Green Finance, said:
Representatives at the roundtable enhanced calls for collaboration across the North, within supply chains for both large and SME businesses in local areas. Emphasising that this was key to achieving Net Zero and realising the full economic and levelling up benefits.
Independent research commissioned by the NP11 highlighted the opportunity for the North to unlock an additional £6 billion in economic benefits for UK plc through targeted investment, collaboration and pan-northern leadership.
The NP11 Net Zero North Prospectus (2022) showed that scaling up existing clean growth activity could create 100,000 new green jobs and generate £2.3bn of GVA by 2050 whilst reducing carbon emissions by 50%.
This would be driven by significantly increased inward investment in technologies such as advanced offshore wind, new nuclear, low carbon hydrogen and carbon capture, utilisation and storage, alongside necessary investment to decarbonise transport, buildings and industry and protecting natural environments.
James Newman OBE, Chair of Hull and East Yorkshire LEP, said: “Thanks to a strong industrial legacy and significant private investment, the North offers the country a unique opportunity to ensure the UK delivers on its climate obligations, whilst at the same time unlocking significant growth.
“Lord Callanan’s visit reflects our ambition to continue to build a robust energy economy of the future. We would like to see more investment coming to the North from businesses, whose ambitions match our own and which can help transition us into a Net Zero future.”
The NP11 are currently working with the Department of Business and Trade to step up activity, but there is an opportunity to go further and faster focusing on areas that can generate the most impact. Such as heavy industrial areas that have the skills and industrial base to become world-leading centres of clean energy.
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