Green Growth
Feb 13 2025
Midlands Engine Observatory publishes Low Carbon Sector Study
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Green Growth
Powering our net zero future
The Midlands Engine has gone further than any other region in translating government low-carbon ambitions into a regional plan for net zero.
Our industry-led Ten Point Plan for Green Growth sets out how we can and will deliver levelling up and economic prosperity. It is how the Midlands Engine partnership will mobilise and spearhead pan-regional action with a focus on green buildings, net zero transport, clean and smart energy and crucial enablers including green innovation, the energy workforce and green finance.
Exceptional work in low-carbon is already underway across our vast Midlands Engine Partnership landscape, making the Midlands a leading location for green growth. But the potential for more is phenomenal. By 2041, and by working together, we have the potential to create or safeguard 196,000 green jobs, increase regional GVA by almost £26 billion and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 36%.
Our Ten Point Plan brings together an impressive spectrum of expertise to identify a key role for the Midlands region in driving green innovation and as a centre for excellence in new technologies and clean fuels, such as hydrogen as we complement existing partner initiatives and capitalise on the wealth of economic opportunities presented by the shift to low carbon.
Download our Ten Point Plan for Green Growth in the Midlands Engine
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Accelerated digitisation of the Midlands’ energy systems has potential to save billions
Our in-depth report, Smart Energy – An Energy System for the 21st Century, co-authored by the Midlands Engine Partnership, Siemens, the University of Birmingham and the Energy Research Accelerator, puts forward a plan for the Midlands to become the UK’s first Smart Energy Region, helping tackle both the cost-of-living crisis and climate change.
Detailing potential interventions and the steps needed to build on a number of projects that are already underway, the report sets out how, in real terms, with a smart energy system, by 2050 the region could:
- Save £68bn in energy costs
- Generate £1.5bn GVA for the regional economy
- Reduce CO2 emissions by 106,000kt
- Make £600m in exports
- Create or support over 7,000 jobs per year
Opportunities to Lead the Way in Smart Energy Solutions is a quick-read companion to the full report summarising the scale and impact of potential interventions.
Powerful potential to deliver, by 2041
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Technologies made in the Midlands are key to unlock the hydrogen opportunity
The Midlands Engine Hydrogen Technologies Strategy has been co-created by partners to crystallise and champion the pivotal role the Midlands and our rapidly growing Hydrogen Technologies Valley can play in low-carbon hydrogen – to achieve government ambitions to expand the UK hydrogen economy and drive sustainable growth.
The Midlands is the manufacturing heartland of the UK, with unrivalled expertise and capacity to make and apply low-carbon hydrogen technologies to deliver net zero. It is hydrogen technologies that have the power to connect hydrogen generators and end-users – and it is the Midlands that has the power to make those technologies for use in areas as diverse as transport, domestic heating and off-grid power supplies.
Green Growth Digital Map
Showcasing our region’s wealth of green growth assets
The Green Growth Digital Map is a live tool with functionality for Midlands Engine partners to provide updates and new projects as and when they emerge, ensuring our showcase of regional green growth assets is always up to date.
Developed by the Midlands Engine Observatory, this interactive tool brings our region’s green growth assets to life – showcasing our region’s flagship projects, facilities and key industry leaders, as well as exemplar case studies from across the Midlands.
Midlands Forest Network
Midlands Forest Network
The Midlands Forest Network (MFN) is a bold initiative that’s aspiring to bring about new opportunities and investment for the protection, restoration and creation of woods and trees in the Midlands.
Natural Capital Monitor
Protected and productive natural assets
Natural capital is the elements of nature that directly or indirectly produce value to people including ecosystems, species, freshwater, land, minerals, air and oceans, as well as natural processes and functions. The Natural Capital Monitor places a value on our region’s natural assets so that we can better protect them.
