Tata Steel is helping in a big way to develop the world’s first net-zero industrial cluster in the UK. As the leading member of the South Wales Industrial Cluster (SWIC), the Tata group firm shapes regional efforts to decrease carbon emissions.
Recently, the SWIC’s Roadmap and Deployment project has received a grant of £295,000 from UK Research and Innovation. If successful the plan would see Tata Steel’s integrated steelworks at Port Talbot playing a major role as one of four possible anchor sites.
Moreover, the European business of Tata Steel nurtures the dream to become carbon neutral by 2050.
Phase one of the project will create a plan for a series of local zero-carbon areas to lower emissions, create skilled jobs and enhance well-being across South Wales. Besides, it will improve the UK’s ability to locally manufacture steel products with low carbon emissions, helping to drive the low-carbon future of UK construction and other sectors such as defence, car manufacturing, packaging and even coin production, an official statement said. It will also generate high-skilled jobs and ensure sustainability.
Key areas for SWIC in the first phase of the project include examining the infrastructure required for the development of the hydrogen economy, for large scale CO2 capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and transport.
“SWIC presents a key opportunity to support Wales’ net zero ambitions by uniting the various decarbonisation programmes in South Wales into a single roadmap for the first time," said Chris Williams of Tata Steel and Flexis, interim lead of the SWIC.
"By helping to develop an industrial strategy, which allows companies in Wales to grow while also reducing CO2 emissions, the plan will create new jobs and provide a sustainable industrial base for future generations.”
Other partners in SWIC are Costain, CR Plus, RWE, Progressive Energy, University of South Wales, Celsa Manufacturing, Tarmac, Valero Energy, Progressive Energy, Capital Law, Flexible Process Consultants the Port of Milford Haven and Vale Europe.
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