Tuesday 29 March 2022
Wales to establish new net zero industry body to support decarbonisation
The Welsh Government has announced plans to establish a new body to support the decarbonisation of industry as well as the creation of jobs in the green industries of the future.
Net Zero Industry Wales will work with an existing group of 40 businesses and academic partners operating in a wide range of energy intensive industries to help them achieve net zero, supporting the country's 2050 goal.
That is expected to require an annual reduction of 1.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions, from 2018 levels.
The new body will have a number of priorities, including enabling industry to explore new economic growth opportunities by becoming a world leader in low carbon manufacturing, supporting the future development of a circular economy in Wales and stimulating new investments to create and retain high-skilled jobs.
The Welsh Government plans to publish its Net Zero Skills Action Plan, which will set out how ministers will support businesses to develop a green and skilled workforce.
The new body will receive £150,000 of funding annually over the next three financial years.
Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said: “Accelerating the decarbonisation of Welsh businesses and industry is crucial if we are to meet our ambitious net zero targets by 2050.
“The creation of Net Zero Industry Wales is an important step forward to help deliver this transition, and underlines our commitment to support industry in south Wales to decarbonise.
“I was with the Aerospace industry last week exploring the transfer of technologies to support decarbonisation in Wales and expect Net Zero Industry Wales to also act as a focus for this transfer across all our high value manufacturers. Another important element is working in close collaboration with the UK’s other industrial clusters to ensure Wales has access to best practice.
“Without this action, Wales and the UK will not achieve our net zero targets by 2050.”
He added the decarbonisation targets cannot be achieved by Wales alone and that the Welsh Government intends to work with the UK Government to ensure businesses and industry have access to a wide range of support.
