The HICP team is pleased to publish their latest output - Supply Chain Report, detailing how we can maximize the benefits and opportunities presented by the push for Net Zero.
Significant amounts of investment will be required in the Humber region to develop a Net Zero industrial cluster. This represents a major opportunity for the region to attain a sustainable, future-proof growth path for its industrial base. Timelines for the creation of a Net Zero cluster in the Humber are challenging if we are to meet the Cluster Plan’s ambition of achieving carbon neutrality by 2040. The coming years will therefore be a period of intensive activity and high demand for the goods and services needed to drive decarbonisation.
To ensure that regional and national economies maximise the benefits from the anticipated investment, and that low-carbon projects can be completed on time and to budget, local supply chains should be able to meet a significant and growing proportion of the parts and materials requirements for decarbonisation projects in the Humber.
The purpose of this study was to assess the readiness of supply chains to meet the demands of the decarbonisation programme in the Humber cluster and identifies steps to ensure local supply chains play their full role in creating a Net Zero cluster. Specifically, it-
- Provides an indication of overall demand for parts and materials to develop the first phase of decarbonisation projects in the region
- Assesses the current readiness of local supply chains to meet demand
- Identifies key risks which may prevent local supply chains playing a full role in the development of a Net Zero industrial cluster in the Humber
- Develops recommendations to overcome these risks and ensure that local benefits are maximised.
Key findings for future supply chain requirements-
- There will be a large increase in the parts and materials demand from the Humber cluster as Net Zero projects move into their development and construction phase
- There is significant overlap in the equipment demands of different technologies e.g. CCS kit, hydrogen projects and low-carbon gas networks will all need turbines and compressors which will heighten demand and could highlight supply constraints
- Wider UK low carbon projects (such as those in other clusters and Hinkley Point C) will increase pressure on supply chains (due to the increase in demand), at a time of adjustment to new global realities e.g. Ukraine war, COVID-19
- It is hard at present to assemble an aggregated, quantified view of demand for parts and components, reflecting the fact that Net Zero projects in the region are early in their development and have not fully identified requirements
- Other work is ongoing to understand the aggregate picture e.g. by Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC): this should be used to inform decisions around supply chain areas to prioritise for support/strategic investment.
Click here to read the report.
