North East and Humber expected to play a key role in UK's net zero future

New research shows the UK is set to miss its legally-binding net zero targets and upcoming Carbon Budget, highlighting the need for government to work with the energy industry in the North East and Humber to solve the dual challenge of maintaining energy security while achieving net zero.

Launched today, the flagship Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) Business Outlook Report shows that Britain’s reliance on gas will continue to grow, driven substantially by domestic heating; the country’s second largest use of energy and the largest component of gas consumption.

Currently, around 85 per cent of UK homes are heated by gas and this number will continue to rise slowly through to 2025. Even the most ambitious scenarios from National Grid lists gas as the largest domestic heating source until at least 2032. In Yorkshire and the Humber, approximately 59 per cent of total gas consumption comes from domestic sources, with this figure rising to 63 per cent in the surrounding North East region.

A broad range of solutions will be needed to reduce this gas dependency. The Climate Change Committee, for example, has found that 8 million homes should have heat pumps installed by 2035. However, ambitious scenarios outlined by National Grid claim the UK will need to have 26 million heat pumps installed by 2050, with installation rates rising to 900,000 per year.

OEUK’s flagship report found that oil and gas currently provide over three quarters of the UK’s energy needs today. Despite reductions in overall energy use, and the growth of renewable energy sources, oil and gas still plays a huge role in the UK’s energy mix.

Currently, UK oil and gas production meets about half of the country’s needs. The industry plays a major role in the UK economy. According to OEUK research in 2022, the oil and gas industry contributed £777m and £735m Gross Value Added (GVA) to the economies of the North East and Yorkshire and Humber respectively, providing jobs for more than 14,400 people across the region.

In fact, of all oil and gas jobs in the UK, over 7 per cent are based in the region, with 8,900 jobs supported by the sector in Yorkshire and the Humber alone.

However, with a decline in investment and production from the North Sea there is a need for long-term planning and support to ensure that these benefits and opportunities aren’t lost while protecting security of supply.

A key part of this will be ensuring that the UK can meet its oil and gas needs while simultaneously developing the new technology and projects needed for cleaner energy production. North East England plays host to a range of professional and engineering services within the industry that are both directly and indirectly involved in aiding the UK’s transition to a low-carbon future.

North East England has significant potential to become a world leader in hydrogen and carbon capture and storage (CCS). For example, Zero Carbon Humber is a consortium of 14 leading organisations in the energy, industrial network operation and research sectors, working together to build the world’s first net zero industrial cluster.

Now entering its second phase, the group’s proposals will bring carbon capture and hydrogen infrastructure to the Humber, helping remove 50 per cent of the UK’s industrial cluster carbon emissions.

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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