Government support not enough to meet ambitious zero strategy

THE GOVERNMENT’S industrial decarbonisation strategy, unveiled a month ago, says that in the next decade the UK will “begin the journey of switching away from fossil fuel combustion to low carbon alternatives such as hydrogen and electrification”.

In its foreword, Business Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, inset, says: “As the UK leads the race to net zero, we will ensure that decarbonisation works for everybody and every region.”

But IPPR North’s report suggests the measures outlined in the strategy, which includes a £250m Clean Steel Fund and £240m Net Zero Hydrogen fund, do not offer the support needed to help decarbonise northern steel in the time required. And it adds: “The UK’s current green growth plans could go further to harness the potential of the industry to decarbonise at pace”

In terms of government aid, it says more support will be needed initially in the form of technological investment and low interest loans.

But it says that by the 2030s “we expect that efforts to crowd in private investment will result in businesses providing at least 50 per cent of this annual cost by the mid-2030s before meeting the majority of the costs thereafter”.

Other recommendations include local authorities examining how they use their buying power to prioritise green steel from the UK. And research and development spending should be devolved to local leaders.

It adds that carbon pricing – where a cost is applied to carbon pollution to encourage polluters to reduce greenhouse gases they emit – should be intensified once the technologies are available to create a premium for low-carbon steel.