What does the Government's 'green revolution' mean for Teesside?

Tyne Tees
climate change
Teesside
Environment
Thursday 19 November 2020 at 4:39pm

After the Government announced its plans to help fund four carbon capture and storage 'hubs' in the UK, with one of them on Teesside, we've been looking at what this means for our region.

It was part of the Prime Minister's 10-point green plan - and it's hoped the storage hubs will be up and running “by the mid-2020s”.

What does Boris Johnson's 10-point green plan focus on and why?

Net Zero Teesside is one of the projects set to receive financial support from the taxpayer.

The Managing Director of Net Zero Teesside, Andy Lane, told ITV News that he hopes construction will begin in 2023, creating around 5,000 jobs, and that they will begin capturing carbon in 2026.

“What we plan for the first stage of the project would be capturing around 3 million tonnes per annum of CO2,” Lane said.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen says he feels the Government's 10-point green plan was 'made for Teesside.'

Government to help fund four carbon capture and storage hubs in the UK

What is the Net Zero Teesside project, and how does it work?

This is just the latest in several 'green' ventures to be set up on Teesside - with the Tees Valley Mayor announcing plans to build a £90million quay at South Bank on the River Tees, in the hopes of making Teesside the UK’s premier offshore wind location.

Gateshead and Teesside have unveiled multi-million pound plans to regenerate parts of their river quaysides

Andy McDonald, MP for Middlesbrough has commented on the announcement, saying:

“Together with my colleagues Alex Cunningham and Mike Hill, I met yesterday with senior representatives of Net Zero Teesside. We have been pressing the case for Carbon Capture User and Storage on Teesside for many years and I know, like Mike and me, Alex, as founder of the All Party Parliamentary Group on CCS, very much welcomed the discussion around the further work on these plans, which have been a long time in developing.

But the funding behind the Government’s 10 point plan for the Green Industrial Revolution doesn’t get anywhere near addressing the immediate climate and employment crisis.

The Prime Minister said: “Although this year has taken a very different path to the one we expected, I haven’t lost sight of our ambitious plans to level up across the country.

“My 10-point plan will create, support and protect hundreds of thousands of green jobs, whilst making strides towards net zero by 2050.

“Our green industrial revolution will be powered by the wind turbines of Scotland and the North East, propelled by the electric vehicles made in the Midlands and advanced by the latest technologies developed in Wales, so we can look ahead to a more prosperous, greener future.”