A University of South Wales-led project is one of 20 from across the UK which is benefiting from £6 million awarded to accelerate decarbonisation of industry.

The Industrial Decarbonisation Research and Innovation Centre (IDRIC), part of the UKRI Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge (IDC), has awarded the funding to support the reduction of carbon emissions in the UK’s largest industrial clusters.

Decarbonising these clusters is a key step towards reaching the UK’s net zero emissions target, a priority that has recently been reinforced by the government-commissioned Net Zero Review.

The VFA to PHA: Decarbonisation – A Route to Sustainable Plastics project, run by Professor Alan Guwy, Head of the Sustainable Environment Research Centre (SERC) at the University of South Wales, along with partners from industry and the University of Bath and Imperial College London, is one of those to benefit from the funding.

IDRIC recently launched a call for a second wave of new industrial decarbonisation research projects, offering stakeholders the opportunity to respond to emerging innovation and research needs and complementing its existing programme of projects.

The funding will go towards projects covering a wide range of technological, environmental, economic, skills, and social aspects of decarbonisation.

Pressing priorities that are addressed include low carbon technologies (carbon capture, usage and storage; hydrogen; greenhouse gas removal); systems and scale up; policy frameworks; workforce skills development; and equality, diversity and inclusion.

The successful bids demonstrated how they would employ active dialogue and collaboration with key industrial stakeholders to ensure that outcomes and impact remain closely tied to industry needs. A full list of successful bids is listed below.

The funding extends IDRIC’s current research programme of 40 projects which is accelerating research and innovation through a whole system approach. IDRIC collaborates with more than 200 partners and stakeholders, including academic institutions, industry, community representatives and policy makers to address urgent innovation needs – realising goals with impact as well as sharing and integrating knowledge across disciplines and sectors.

Bryony Livesey, Challenge Director, Industrial Decarbonisation Challenge, UKRI, said:

 “The announcement of this funding continues to build upon IDRIC’s whole system approach to decarbonising industry, enabling the UK to remain at the forefront of a global low-carbon future.

“These successful Wave 2 projects will build evidence on a range of areas from economics and emissions to skilled jobs and wider net zero policy, supporting UK’s green growth and net zero ambitions.”

Professor Mercedes Maroto-Valer, Champion and Director IDRIC said:

 “We were delighted by the quality and volume of applications received in response to our funding call and as a result we have awarded funding to projects that address a wide range of pressing research priorities.

“IDRIC’s programme has demonstrated that we have the tools to transform industry and make it an engine of green growth. Our Wave 2 funding accompanied by the continued support of industry and academia will further enhance innovative decarbonisation solutions at pace and scale in the industrial heartlands, where it matters most.

“We are excited about the imminent announcement of our call for Flexible Funding and Secondment programmes. These further exciting opportunities will offer the chance to stakeholders to respond to emerging research needs, as well as encouraging skills development and knowledge transfer in the industrial decarbonisation sector.”