Why the world needs the Humber
CLIMATE CHANGE TECH ‘TESTBED’ OFFER FOR GLOBAL SOLUTIONS
THE Humber’s unique ability to address the five grand challenges of climate change, while being at the vanguard of the impact, makes it the perfect test bed for global technological solutions.
That was the message sent out globally by the Waterline Summit on its international day, with the economic and employment benefit from being at the forefront clear.
Chair of host organisation Marketing Humber, Andy Parkinson, explained why the world needs the Humber at the high profile event.
He has worked closely with Lord Prescott and academics on the strategy required to ensure many of the largest economies in the world are protected from the changing environment, while championing the Humber’s desire to lead the world once again. Mr Parkinson said: “Globally, these areas - port / estuarial regions like the Humber - are contributing significantly to climate change. These regions are driving the emissions, and these regions have the key to how we solve it. “It needs a new economic model, a new way of looking at it. How we transition all the jobs from high carbon to low carbon, financing this, is quite risky. We need to demonstrate technologies are future proof and can work, and we believe the Humber is the place to do that.
“We are driving emissions and at the vanguard of climate change - rising sea levels and flooding - the Humber is one of the biggest losers when it comes to impact. When you look at the Humber region it is a microcosm of the five grand challenges - power, agriculture, manufacturing, transport and housing. “This is the perfect demonstration region of these global problems in one place. We can be a test bed to develop technology here. If you can solve it on the Humber you can solve it anywhere in the world.
“The perfect opportunity sits around these five grand challenges.”
The Waterline has brought together the momentum around the Humber’s transformation - from the most carbon intensive cluster in the UK to a leader in the race to Net Zero. Building on the podium topping position in offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture solutions for heavy industry are now being brought to the fore, with a £75 million bid from a 12-strong partnership now with the government. It includes international investors seeking to play a key part in the solution. “The Humber has been a global leader many times in the past,” Mr Parkinson said.
“We saw a big industrial decline of a once-booming economy, but we have been rising up in the last 10 years, and a new industrial revolution is starting to take shape here - an important industrial revolution the Humber can play a significant part in - decarbonisation. “It allows us to create fantastic opportunities for the future, for people in our area.”
Mr Parkinson told how offshore wind investment from the likes of Orsted and Siemens had “been a magnet for investment, creating a really positive ripple effect”.
Running through the five challenges laid out by Bill Gates, with energy being the first, Mr Parkinson laid out the credentials. He said: “Our producing power story is quite advanced already, and has attracted a lot of interest internationally about how that has happened.”
On agriculture, with East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire referred to as the bread basket of the UK, with fresh produce plentiful, he said: “Leave Hull or Grimsby and you see lots of countryside, fields, we are very prominent in farming and food production.”
The busiest port complex in the UK covered off transport, with the strong social landlord position leading in the housing element.
Stephen Phipson CBE, chief executive of Make UK, joined Mr Parkinson to cover the manufacturing sector. “Climate change is right at the top of the policy agenda and it represents a great opportunity for the Humber and manufacturing across the country as a whole,” he said.
“Yorkshire and the Humber generates 14 per cent of the total output of the manufacturing sector in the country, with nearly 300,000 jobs and the Humber is an export highway for northern manufacturing, with chemicals, oil and gas sitting alongside cutting edge industries such as offshore wind energy production and biomass handling. It is a really impressive illustration of what an innovative and dynamic sector can be.”