Industrial Decarbonisation: Local Industrial Decarbonisation Plans

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size, charity, not for profit, research and technology organisation (RTO) or public sector organisation
• collaborate with other UK registered organisations

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

A business, research and technology organisation (RTO), charity, not for profit or public sector organisation can lead on one application and can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If an organisation is not leading an application, it can collaborate in up to two applications.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request between £75,000 and £800,000
• start by 1 January 2024
• end by 31 December 2024
• have a minimum duration of 6 months
• collaborate with partners
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

The funding will support the advancement of place-based industrial decarbonisation plans. This will involve collaboration between closely located industrial businesses and other stakeholders, as well as upskilling their capabilities ahead of introducing low-emission technologies.

Through use of the fund we expect organisations to come together to form local clusters, which can be made up of closely located industrial businesses and other stakeholders, with the aim to establish a detailed, implementable plan for decarbonisation of their cluster.

This should include identification of a pipeline of decarbonisation projects that can be taken forward by the cluster towards deployment, including common decarbonisation infrastructure.

Local clusters must also provide evidence of how organisational structures will be established with the technical capabilities and coordinated capacity to drive implementation of the plan.

We are not funding projects that are:

• single industrial facilities
• focused on deployment activities
• pre-FEED (front end engineering design) or FEED studies
• not primarily focused on industrial decarbonisation; however plans that are primarily focused on industry, but which can show synergies with decarbonisation of other sectors, for example, waste, power or transport, will be considered
• considered to duplicate the scope of IDC Clusters; however plans that are not covered by the IDC clusters, but which can show how their plans will connect to the clusters, will be accepted

Your proposal must:

• demonstrate the regional and national significance of your project
• demonstrate what networks, stakeholders and audiences will contribute to the project and what information will be disseminated through a dissemination plan
• develop a strong understanding of emissions data and developing pathways to reach Net Zero by 2050
• consider the wider cross-economy decarbonisation scenarios
• capture existing activity in the cluster on industrial decarbonisation
• identify the key industrial decarbonisation project options required to achieve carbon abatement in the local cluster, for example, common infrastructure and site-specific
• identify barriers and enablers to industrial decarbonisation in the local cluster
• analyse decarbonisation benefits and costs, including emissions, economic, environmental and social impact, and quantifying these where possible
• identify key industrial decarbonisation stakeholders, plans for further engagement and future development of organisational structures designed to implement content of plan
• demonstrate how the project will lead to decarbonisation of your local industrial cluster after the funding from this competition ends in March 2025

It is recognised that local industrial clusters will be at different stages of development but we would anticipate that your local cluster decarbonisation plan would include:

• technology options
• emissions data
• commercial arrangements
• stakeholders
• funding and finance
• knowledge dissemination, in the form of a dissemination plan demonstrating how learning from the project will be gathered and disseminated to other industrial clusters and dispersed sites
• the economic, social and environmental impact of decarbonising the local cluster
• existing decarbonisation activities
• barriers and enablers
• geographic coverage
• timelines
• exploitation plan

An online briefing event will be held on Tuesday 6th June, 2pm-4pm: click here to register for a place. A recording will be available after the event.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK KTN’s Place team, Energy team, or Manufacturing team as appropriate.

It is recognised that Local Industrial Clusters are at varying stages of readiness and formation, therefore successful projects will be granted access to Technical Advisers during delivery of the successfully funded project. Successful projects will also be contacted about working with an innovation and growth specialist at Innovate UK EDGE.