January 2021
Price: £95 PLUS VAT
Format: DOWNLOADABLE PDF
***Full-scale policy conference taking place online***
This conference will assess the priorities for achieving net-zero emissions in the UK industrial and manufacturing sectors.
Areas for discussion include:
- policy options - both sector-specific and across industry, as well as tailored regional and local strategies
- managing technology and infrastructure costs - and tackling investment uncertainties and opportunities for sector collaboration
- enhancing the research base - and the future of international research relationships
- UK international competitiveness - and leadership in decarbonisation
The conference is bringing stakeholders together with key policy officials who are due to attend from BEIS; Defra; the DfT; the DIT; the Geospatial Commission; the Government Legal Department; the HSE; the NAO; the ORR; DAERA, NI; the Department for the Economy, NI; the Department for Infrastructure, NI; The Scottish Government; and the Welsh Government.
The agenda:
- Developing a net-zero pathway for the UK manufacturing sector - scaling up research and development, technology commercialisation, and reducing costs
- Planning industrial decarbonisation for the long term - strategy development, attracting investment, and designing decarbonisation pathways tailored to regional industrial profiles
Net-zero for manufacturing and the future of the R&D base - multidisciplinary research, bringing technologies to market, and learning from strategic approaches in other countries - Next steps for overcoming physical and economic challenges for industrial low-carbon transitions
- ‘Decentralised CO2 capture for heavy industry, accelerating carbon reduction, and the role of CCU’
- Reducing costs in innovation for UK industrial competitiveness - payback times and investment in commercialisation, taxation policy, and developing global supply chain relationships
- De-risking investment for manufacturing decarbonisation - strategies for collaboration on equipment and technology development, reducing capital costs, and policy support
- Opportunities for the UK to lead on zero-carbon factory clusters - public and private cooperation, developing new technologies and markets, and the Industrial Clusters Mission 2040 target
- Policy priorities for developing a net-zero pathway for industry and manufacturing
A scan of relevant developments:
- the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy - announced in the Energy White Paper and expected in Spring 2021, detailing how the government aims to support the manufacturing industry
- the Energy White Paper - outlining a route for reaching net zero emissions, including:
- investment in green industries, such as nearly half a billion to be spent in electric vehicle manufacturing and gigafactories
- aims to support the workforce transition from fossil fuel to green industries
- The Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution - from the PM, aiming to fast-track the UK towards net-zero emissions, tying objectives together from across energy-intensive sectors, and supported by a £40m fund to help retrain green workforces
- the National Infrastructure Strategy - with a strong emphasis on incorporating net-zero commitments into approaches going forward
- new Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge funding - for projects in the West Midlands, Tees Valley, North West, Humber, Scotland and South Wales with local authorities and industry working jointly on carbon emissions reduction
- PM commits £350m to fuel green recovery - aimed at cutting heavy industry emissions and supporting economic recovery from coronavirus, alongside the Government’s 2050 net-zero target
- New plans to make UK world leader in green energy - £160m funding announced by the Government for offshore wind infrastructure and to support green job creation and supply chains
- Brexit - the government confirming that it will not be offering funding for successful Research Fund for Coal and Steel applicants, with the EU also not offering finding to UK applicants for future
- The Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC) - announced earlier this year, with the aim of developing skills, research, and innovation for stakeholders across industry
- A range of government funding schemes including: ISCF Decarbonisation of industrial clusters; the Transforming Foundation Industries Challenge; the Clean Steel Fund; Hydrogen Supply Competition; the Carbon Capture and Storage Infrastructure Fund; and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme
Areas for discussion:
- policy options - the future for public funding, carbon levy exemptions, and bi-lateral energy trading schemes for those generating heat and hydrogen energy
- rolling out policy frameworks - looking at creation of sector-specific policy for areas such as steel, cement, paper and polymers that can be adapted and rolled out across industry
- improving industry cooperation:
- designing joined-up frameworks that bring together key sectors and players
- opportunities for collaboration on technological innovation and implementing cost-effective inclusive strategies for reaching net-zero emissions
- regional and local economic strategies - with government emphasising their role in economic, looking at:
- regional industrial clusters - their role in contributing to economic growth and recovery
- tailored strategies - designing pathways towards net zero that maximise the competitive advantage of local industrial assets
- UK competitiveness - opportunities for across-sector working to establish leadership in new technologies
- costs - the physical and economic challenges for industry in decarbonisation, and how barriers around technology cost and infrastructure can be overcome including:
- technology investment - ways forward for reducing risk and capital costs, increasing collaboration, shortening payback periods, demonstrating project viability, and commercialisation
- innovating factory connection to energy system infrastructure:
- assessing policy development for carbon capture commercialisation, and preparing facilities for CCS and CCUS
- realising revenue opportunities from hydrogen supply and export
- smart-led decarbonisation - modernising facilities and innovating system processes for emissions monitoring, and preparing in-house equipment for emissions data reporting
- research collaboration - next steps for:
- growing partnerships between universities and industry, including smaller innovators
- international research relationships and the future for international collaboration beyond the end of the UK transition period
Policy officials attending:
Our forums are known for attracting strong interest from policymakers and stakeholders. Places have been reserved by officials from BEIS; Defra; the Department for International Trade; the Department for Transport; the Geospatial Commission; the Government Legal Department; the Health and Safety Executive; the National Audit Office; the Office of Rail and Road; DAERA, NI; the Department for the Economy, NI; the Department for Infrastructure, NI; The Scottish Government and the Welsh Government. Also due to attend are representatives from Aldersgate Group; AMBER Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin; Breedon Cement; Breedon Group; Burns & McDonnell; BYD Europe BV; Cast Metals Federation; Costain; Dawn Meats; ECITB; Economic Insight; Electricity North West; Energy Institute; Heriot-Watt University; Imperial College London; Low Carbon Contracts Company; Moy Park; Ofgem; Research Centre for Carbon Solutions, Heriot-Watt University; Royal Society of Chemistry; Scottish Power; Smarter Carbon CIC; South West Water; SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK; The Oil & Gas Technology Centre; The Scotch Whisky Research Institute; This is Gravity; University of Surrey; University of Sussex; University of York, Centre for Novel Agricultural Products (CNAP) and Wood.
Press passes have been reserved by representatives from Argus Media; Carbon Capture Journal and ICIS.
This is a full-scale conference taking place online***
- full, four-hour programme including comfort breaks - you’ll also get a full recording to refer back to
- information-rich discussion involving key policymakers and stakeholders
- conference materials provided in advance, including speaker biographies
- speakers presenting via webcam, accompanied by slides if they wish, using the Cisco WebEx professional online conference platform (easy for delegates - we’ll provide full details)
- opportunities for live delegate questions and comments with all speakers
- a recording of the addresses, all slides cleared by speakers, and further materials, is made available to all delegates afterwards as a permanent record of the proceedings
- delegates are able to add their own written comments and articles following the conference, to be distributed to all attendees and more widely
- networking too - there will be opportunities for delegates to e-meet and interact - we’ll tell you how!
Full information and guidance on how to take part will be sent to delegates before the conference
