Content Coms welcomes decarbonisation support for South West manufacturing industry

The government has announced over £6 million in funding to help the manufacturing industry’s net zero transition via the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans (LIPD) competition. £750,000 is earmarked to support industrial clusters in the Bristol port area, and as a clean tech and manufacturing communications specialist in the region, Content Coms warmly welcomes this news.

A closer look at the Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans competition

Run by government in partnership with Innovate UK (IUK), the LIPD funding is focused on supporting dispersed industrial manufacturers not located in the UK’s existing industrial clusters to decarbonise and reduce their emissions.

Roughly half of the UK’s industrial emissions come from dispersed industrial sites, but previous funding and support has been lacklustre. Now, 12 competition winners will benefit from both funding and extra collaborative opportunities that include sharing of costs across multiple sites and gaining access to a larger pool of resources. The competitive grant funding will support the advancement of place-based decarbonisation plans that demonstrate collaboration between closely located industrial businesses, and other stakeholders.

One of the twelve winners includes an eleven-strong consortium led by Mayor Dan Norris’s West of England Combined Authority, which has been awarded £750,000 to decarbonise industries in and around Bristol Port. The funding will be used to identify the areas where firms can become much more energy efficient, and where cleaner, greener fuels can be used. Carbon capture technologies will also be considered, in cases where it’s not yet possible to entirely eliminate carbon emissions.

Joanna Watchman, Managing Director and Founder of Content Coms, said, “The LIPD competition serves as a much-needed boost for industrial sites across the UK. As an ESG consultancy for manufacturers, we’ve seen first-hand the scale of the decarbonisation challenge in this sector; which is currently compounded by economic uncertainty.

“Despite these barriers, we’re delighted to see the South West leading the way in the green transition. This funding will further unlock the economic opportunities afforded by clean growth in the region.”

What about industry support outside of the competition?

Recently, the government also announced dates for the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF). Grant funding is available from the IETF to support research and implementation projects aimed at lowering the energy usage and emissions from industrial facilities, including those located in remote areas.

Phase 3 of the IETF will be open for applications from 29 January to 19 April 2024 with up to £185m in funding available.

About Content Coms

At Content Coms, we deliver award-winning ESG consultancy and communications strategies for manufacturers and innovators. Got a project? Let’s talk.

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Other notes:

The twelve winners of the LIPD competition include:

• Bradford Manufacturing Futures – Up to £726,729
• DECODE Corby – Up to £453,590
• Decarbonising Dalton Industrial Estate – Up to £129,063
• Decarbonising the Midlands Aerospace Cluster (DMAC) – Up to £444,739
• Decarbonising the Port of Poole Maritime Industrial Cluster – Up to £184,487
• Industrial Decarbonisation for Northern Ireland – Up to £595,905
• Making A Better Tomorrow: Decarbonisation of Stakehill Industrial Estate in Atom Valley – Up to £612,376
• NEW-ID (North East Wales Industrial Decarbonisation) – Up to £711,784
• Shoreham Port Industrial Cluster- Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan – Up to £226,803
• The Solent Cluster: Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan – Up to £757,601
• West of England Industrial Cluster Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plan – Up to £607,571
• ZCOP I-RMAP: Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership Industrial Roadmap and Action Plan – Up to £265,032

For more detail on the LIPD competition winners, Visit the government website for more information about the LIPD competition winners.