Tackling climate change, kickstarting green economic growth, and promoting healthy, sustainable living for all across the UK lie at the heart of new investment confirmed today by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Delivering net carbon zero impact in UK land sectors – such as farming, forestry, and peat uplands – also features in the new investments, working towards large-scale transformation of the way land is used and managed.
A significant investment in the UK’s global network of environmental science research centers to support large-scale monitoring, modeling, and research capabilities in the atmosphere, polar ice sheets, freshwaters, seas, and land is also backed. This will ensure our national security to environmental hazards, boost green economic growth, and build an understanding of climate change for many years to come.
The funding supports new jobs, green growth, and state-of-the-art innovation in towns and cities across the UK, from Glasgow to Cornwall, as well as underpinning UK-led expertise across the world.
As with all UKRI investments, the many projects supported by this new funding will play a vital role in kickstarting economic growth and driving the UK’s future as a clean energy superpower.
They demonstrate how UKRI delivers world-class research and innovation and science-driven economic growth that underpins long-term UK prosperity and national resilience while cementing UK leadership in green industries and unlocking clean economic growth opportunities.
All projects and programs supported by the new commitments, totaling just under £170 million, are approved and will start delivering this year. They include:
- Over £100 million to bolster the long-term support offered to UK environmental sciences’ global monitoring capability in atmospheric, marine, polar, freshwater, and terrestrial environments.
This major investment will build on the UK’s extensive environmental science capabilities, helping us better understand how our planet is changing at local and global scales and enhancing resource and environmental management.
This is a key step in realizing the government’s core mission to fund science that can address climate change and pave the way to a sustainable future.
- £25 million for five new centers in Scotland, Wales, and South West England, co-created between industry, academia, and local stakeholders to deliver the scale-up and adoption of clean, green commercial solutions at the local, regional, and national level, ranging from retrofit housing and electronics manufacturing to algae production and a more sustainable approach to critical minerals’ mining.
- £14.5 million investment in five UK research and innovation projects that will transform land use, re-think soil system health and carbon dynamics and reduce agricultural emissions.
- £30 million to establish new research hubs to ensure we maximize opportunity for improved health and wellbeing as part of the transition to a net zero carbon economy. This project is co-funded by UKRI and the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Challenge areas experts at the hubs will explore include: indoor air quality; transport and the built environment; sustainable healthy diets; extreme weather; and how we support an NHS fit for the future by reducing carbon emissions in our health and social care sector.
Louise Heathwaite, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Executive Chair and UKRI Executive sponsor for Building a Green Future, said:
“This exciting series of investments underlines UKRI’s ongoing commitment to building a green future for families, communities, businesses and across our whole society. Working with others, it builds on our broader £800 million-a-year research and innovation portfolio where we deliver on national priorities, transform behaviors and unlock solutions essential to achieving net zero in the UK by 2050.”