At the end of last month, the UK became the first major economy in the world to ‘pass laws to end its contribution to global warming by 2050’.

The new target will require the UK to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to ‘net-zero’ by 2050; the previous target was a reduction of at least 80% from 1990 levels.

Reports show that the UK “has already reduced emissions by 42% while growing its economy by 72%”, and that putting ‘clean growth’ at the heart its Industrial Strategy could see the value of exports from the low-carbon economy grow to £170 billion a year by 2030.

The Government is hosting Green GB Week in November, to encourage all areas of the country and sectors of society to play their part in meeting these ambitious targets.

Further details can be found at the Green GB Week Web site (greengb.campaign.gov.uk).

Meanwhile, the UK’s largest carbon capture project to date could be up and running by 2021, following the announcement that nine companies have been awarded £26 million of government funding to advance the roll-out of carbon capture, utilisation and storage in the UK.

The awards were announced by Energy and Clean Growth Minister Chris Skidmore during a recent visit to Tata Chemicals Europe’s plant in Winnington, Cheshire.

The plant is being given £4.2 million towards the construction of a facility to capture and use 40,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year.

When fully operational in 2021, this will be the largest carbon-capture facility in the UK.