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A net zero transition that creates UK business opportunities

The industry is not just a contributor but is a vital part聽of advanced manufacturing supplying the advanced聽materials used in clean energy generation and storage,聽life sciences, the future of mobility and AI and the data聽economy. However, the barriers to transition must聽be overcome jointly, particularly for energy intensive,聽trade exposed sectors like chemicals that compete聽internationally for inward investment. The past three聽decades have seen the UK chemical industry reduce its聽greenhouse gas footprint by over 80%, predominantly聽through fuel-switching, emission abatement and energy聽efficiency, but also through loss of production.

Now the聽task for the next three decades is transforming how聽we produce and what we produce, all whilst remaining聽globally competitive. Not only will we need access to聽plentiful and competitively priced alternative energy聽sources 鈥� such as low carbon electricity and hydrogen聽鈥� we will also need carbon capture and storage聽infrastructure to remove the emissions that result聽from chemical reactions during production. On top of聽this, we will need to reduce the use of non-renewable聽resources as feedstocks and deliver materials that can聽be recycled.

  • Commit to growing and simplifying聽programmes that enable net zero action,聽such as the Industrial Energy Transformation聽Fund (IETF). In particular there should be more聽stability in funding schemes with less tendency聽to regularly change methodology.
  • Push forward with all cluster projects as and聽when they are ready to implement, along with聽a plan to support dispersed sites, so no part of聽Britain is left behind.
  • Deliver a long-term and stable carbon聽market policy, coupled with effective carbon聽leakage mitigation measures to allow UK聽manufacturing to compete during the聽transition to net zero. Central to this will be a聽UK Emissions Trading Scheme and a Carbon聽Border Adjustment Mechanism that allow us to聽compete internationally.
  • Create favourable policy conditions for聽advanced circular recycling technologies,聽including recognition of a viable mass balance聽model to drive investment and growth in a聽new green tech industry.
  • Incentivise net zero investment projects聽through the prioritisation and acceleration of聽UK permitting and planning processes.