Last week the East Coast Cluster (ECC) was named as one of the UK's first carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) clusters following a successful bid to the department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS).
The decision by BEIS is a major step in delivering the UK’s ambition of the first net zero industrial cluster by 2040.
A collaboration between Zero Carbon Humber (of which British Steel is a member), Net Zero Teesside and Northern Endurance Partnership, the East Coast Cluster aims to remove nearly 50% of all UK Industrial cluster CO2 emissions. By deploying CCUS across the Humber and Teesside, the East Coast Cluster aims to create and support an average of 25,000 jobs per year between 2023 and 2050.
The ECC was named as a “Track-1” cluster in a written statement from Energy Minister Rt Hon Greg Hands MP, putting it on course for deployment by the mid-2020s. The successful bid, led on behalf of the ECC by the Northern Endurance Partnership, is a major step towards achieving the UK government’s world-leading ambition to establish the first ‘net zero’ carbon industrial cluster in the UK by 2040. It also represents a significant boost for the industrial heartlands of Teesside and the Humber.
Dr Gari Harris, British Steel's head of Research & Development, said: "This is great news for the area and affords the opportunity to use a range of techniques to reduce the carbon intensity of the region. It complements our recently launched Low-Carbon Roadmap perfectly."
The East Coast Cluster will be vital for supporting low-carbon industry and power projects across the region, including those in Zero Carbon Humber and Net Zero Teesside, 2 of the country’s leading industrial decarbonisation proposals. Once operational, the cluster has the potential to transport and securely store nearly 50% of all UK industrial cluster CO2 emissions – up to 27 million tonnes of CO2 emissions a year by 2030.
The project aims to create and support an average of 25,000 jobs per year between 2023 and 2050, with approximately 41,000 jobs at the project’s peak in 2026. These skilled jobs in exciting new industries, including industrial carbon capture, low-carbon hydrogen production, negative emissions power, and power with carbon capture, can play an important part of levelling up in the UK.
Find out more about what this means for the Humber, East Coast Cluster and the UK's climate ambitions in this short video.