Leading drinks & food brands Heineken, Tate & Lyle and Kellogg’s are among recipients dividing a £24.3 million pot of government grants designed to strip carbon from their energy consumption.
The cash comes from the second round of the Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF), a three-year old project to foster efforts by high energy users among manufacturers to get more for their energy bill buck, at same time adopting cleaner sources.
Energy-intensive industries are responsible for 11% of the UK’s total emissions, according to the government. They represent over 70% of UK industrial emissions.
While the UK has cut emissions by over 44% since 1990, it is estimated that industry will need to cut their emissions by two-thirds by 2035 for the UK to achieve its net zero target.
In the latest round of handouts, drinks producer Britvic will receive £4.4 million to overhaul energy sources at its east London factory, installing more efficient water heating as well as a heat recovery system.
Brewer Heineken gets £3.7 million for upgrades at its Manchester site, intended to bring recycled heat from industrial fridges into beer-making.
Toyota’s Derby factory will benefit from a grant to apply paints and coatings with static electricity, instead of air-spraying aerosols.
Kellogg’s and sugar-makers Tate & Lyle receive cash to assess the feasibility of cutting natural gas in their operations.
Already on the same track is chemicals firm Ingevity UK. Hydrogen-ready boilers will be installed at its Warrington facility, funded by £2.6 m from the scheme.
One carbon capture project completes today’s announced beneficiaries. Breedon Cement’s site in Derbyshire stands to benefit.
Over the IETF’s seven year lifetime to 2027, a total of £289 million is being made available to high consuming manufacturers. Just over £61 million has been passed to beneficiaries already.
Minsters have earmarked £185 million for the scheme’s next round.
Lord Callanan holds D-ESNZ’s energy efficiency portfolio. He said funding advancing the installation of energy efficiency technologies will not only reduce companies’ energy costs, but boost UK competitiveness on the world stage.
