Government Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy published

The UK government’s Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy has today been presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Responding to the strategy, Professor Nilay Shah OBE FREng, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Vice-Chair of the National Engineering Policy Centre Net Zero working group, says:

“It is essential that all sectors of industry are fully involved in the drive towards decarbonisation and today’s roadmap provides helpful targets and aspirations across the whole energy system. Low-regrets measures such as reducing energy demand and improving efficiency in transport and supply chains will help to reduce future costs and also have positive social and economic benefits. However, we must not underestimate the sheer enormity of the engineering challenge facing us, not least in upskilling the workforce. This includes long-term jobs in major infrastructure projects for power generation, carbon capture usage and storage and hydrogen as well as ensuring that the education young people are receiving today will properly equip them to contribute to decarbonisation in the future.

“Demonstrating the effectiveness of carbon capture usage and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen is also a vital step to reducing emissions but will require massive technological adjustment and integration across energy storage and essential subsystems. Before widespread roll-out of hydrogen, full-scale demonstrators of the essential system components should be built, to allow for proper operational evaluation.”

Full details of the strategy are available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/industrial-decarbonisation-strategy

Notes for Editors

1. The National Engineering Policy Centre

We are a unified voice for 43 professional engineering organisations, representing 450,000 engineers, a partnership led by the Royal Academy of Engineering.

We give policymakers a single route to advice from across the engineering profession.

We inform and respond to policy issues of national importance, for the benefit of society.

In January 2020, the National Engineering Policy Centre began a programme of work to explore, inform, and advise policymakers on some of the hardest cross-cutting challenges and the opportunities that need to be addressed in achieving Net Zero carbon emissions by 2050. For more information see https://www.raeng.org.uk/policy/policy-projects-and-issues/net-zero-a-systems-perspective-on-the-climate-chal

2. The Royal Academy of Engineering is harnessing the power of engineering to build a sustainable society and an inclusive economy that works for everyone.

In collaboration with our Fellows and partners, we’re growing talent and developing skills for the future, driving innovation and building global partnerships, and influencing policy and engaging the public.

Together we’re working to tackle the greatest challenges of our age.