Factories producing some of the country’s best-known beers, cereals, soft drinks and cars will receive government support to reduce their energy costs and cut carbon emissions.
Heineken, Kellogg’s, Toyota and Britvic are among businesses across the UK to be awarded a share of £24.3 million government funding to help clean up their manufacturing processes and improve their energy efficiency.
The Industrial Energy Transformation Fund (IETF) supports businesses using high amounts of energy to reduce their fossil fuel using innovative low-carbon technologies. This will help companies save on their energy costs, which in turn will safeguard British jobs and help grow the economy – one of the government’s five priorities.
Heineken is receiving £3.7 million to upgrade its Manchester Brewery, including installing technology to recover waste heat from the refrigeration systems used to cool their beer.
Toyota in Derby is receiving over £282,000 to introduce new airless paint sprayers, which use static electricity instead of air, to reduce the amount of energy they need.
Britvic Soft Drinks will use £4.4 million to implement new technologies, including a heat recovery system and Low Temperature Hot Water network, at its site in east London, where it produces drinks such as Tango and Robinsons.
Kellogg’s in Wrexham will receive funding for a study assessing the possibility of recovering the waste heat from their cereal manufacturing processes to reduce their gas usage.
Tate and Lyle Sugars, which supplies nearly half of all the sugar and syrup on UK supermarket shelves, is receiving over £71,800 to explore how to reduce natural gas use at their Thames Refinery.
Minister for Energy Efficiency Lord Callanan said: “We are leading the world in reaching net zero, having cut emissions by 48 per cent – but to keep up this progress and achieve our green goals, we’ve got to transform our industrial sectors, as some of the industries most critical to our economy are also those with the highest emissions.
“We’re backing them with government funding to use the latest technologies to cut their emissions and their reliance on fossil fuels – helping to future-proof these industries as we grow our green economy.
“This will not only cut their energy costs but also boost their competitiveness on the world stage, helping them thrive and protecting the thousands of jobs they offer across the country.”
Road to net zero
Energy-intensive industries are responsible for 11 per cent of the UK’s total emissions and represent over 70 per cent of UK industrial emissions. While the UK is making excellent progress on the road to net zero, decarbonising faster than any other G7 country, it is estimated that industry will need to cut its emissions by two thirds by 2035 for the UK to achieve its net zero target.
Matt Callan, Senior Director Supply Chain at Heineken UK, said: “We are proud to have ambitious targets when it comes to reducing our carbon footprint, within both our own operations and across our entire value chain. For over 150 years, we have been passionate about making a positive impact and more than ever it is clear that there is no time to waste in taking action to reduce carbon emissions.
“This investment and IETF funding will enable us to act faster, and with the commitment and passion of our colleagues and partners, will help us raise the bar at our Manchester Brewery to brew our beers in a more sustainable way.
“The project will make a significant contribution on our journey to carbon neutrality and provide us with the learnings to reapply across our other sites as we continue our journey to brew a better world.”
A total of £289 million is being made available to businesses through the IETF up to 2027 and these allocations take the amount awarded under the scheme so far to £61.4 million.
