The future looks to be green: Wales is to become a leading Green Industry Hub with significant UK Government investment

The plan is to work at community level, directly with local authorities to deliver and fund major projects with investment, indicated to be in the £100’s of millions, to position Wales as a global leader in an industry providing employment and tackling climate change. How this will work in practice remains to be seen given the clear political differences across the Severn but if implemented, it would begin to address the climate emergency declared by Welsh Government.

Some project highlights include:

• A further £5m investment in the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub. A pioneering facility which pilots the use of hydrogen and safe storage within the transport sector
• More than £40m to support a cluster of industries in South Wales to transition to net-zero
• A new funding round for the Crown Estates owned floating wind farms in the Celtic Sea
• The launch of Project Gigabit, a £5bn connectivity programme to support the rollout of gigabit-capable broadband in the hardest to reach communities in Wales.

The Secretary of State for Wales Simon Hart, shared his thoughts:

Investment of this scale could create significant opportunities for Welsh Universities working with STEM subjects and green energy. The Cardiff Capital region has already developed its expertise in compound semi conductors becoming a hub for this industry. Cardiff University’s new Sbarc building is the next stage of its investment in providing leading research facilities.

It will be interesting to see whether this proposed combination of significant top down infrastructure investment combined with grass roots local knowledge, can create an environment to encourage economic activity. If it were capable of assisting Wales in becoming a leading green industries destination while playing a vital role in fighting climate change that would be a step in right direction.

This article is part of Local Authority Matters – Nov 2021