The UK Government has announced up to £120m ($152.27m) in additional funding for its Green Industries Growth Accelerator (GIGA) fund as it looks to expand low-carbon supply chains across the country.
The extra capital brings GIGA’s total available funds to just over £1bn. This will be split between clean energy sectors, with around £390m earmarked to expand UK-based supply chains for electricity networks and offshore wind sectors, the Treasury said in a press statement on Sunday. Another £390m will be dedicated to the development of carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) and hydrogen sectors.
As part of the total £360m funding package announced on Sunday, almost £73m in combined government and industry investment for automotive research and development (R&D) projects will go to support the development of EV technology as the UK looks to boost domestic production of EVs and battery storage.
Another £200m of joint government and industry funding will go to aerospace R&D projects to support the development of energy-efficient and zero-carbon aircraft technology. This will include £40m for a project developing zero-carbon aircraft engine technology, led by Cambridge-based Marshall Group. Another £96m will be invested in Airbus-led projects.
Funding for these projects will be delivered through the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) programme. The government also confirmed that the £975m in aerospace funding over five years from 2025, announced in Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s Autumn Statement, will be allocated to the ATI programme.
Energy Security Secretary Claire Coutinho said: “We are backing our green industries with extra cash for the Green Industries Growth Accelerator… While we have attracted £300bn in low-carbon investment since 2010, with £24bn since September alone, this will help to unlock even more.”
Stephen Phipson, chief executive of manufacturers’ organisation Make UK, said: “Industry will welcome this announcement as yet another boost for key sectors that will put advanced manufacturing at the heart of the UK’s economic future. These industries will be key to addressing many of the societal challenges we face in a competitive world and highlight what can be achieved with a constructive dialogue between government and business. Taken together they are another piece in the jigsaw of a modern industrial strategy to make the UK a world leader in key sectors of the future.”
The announcement comes two days before Hunt is due to set out the government’s Spring Budget. Several further announcements relating to energy sector spending are expected on Wednesday.
The pledge also comes as new Greenpeace analysis of data from the International Energy Agency finds that the UK spends less on low-carbon energy policy than any other major European economy. The data analysed includes spending on electricity networks, energy efficiency, innovation on fuels and technology, low-carbon and efficient transport and low-carbon electricity between 2020 and 2023.
