News

The Scottish Net Zero Roadmap (SNZR) project is part of a government funded challenge to develop net zero industrial clusters across the UK by 2040. SNZR’s aim was to identify how the industrial cluster along Scotland’s East Coast can be decarbonised, supporting Scotland’s target of net zero by 2045. The project lasted two years and published its analysis and recommendations last week.

Optimat was the SNZR project designer and manager, working collaboratively with a number of partners, and engaging with stakeholders including key emitters, infrastructure owners, and others to ensure the roadmap was built on a comprehensive evidence base.

Iain Weir, Managing Director of Optimat, said:

Publishing the roadmap may be the end of our project, but we are still at the early stages of our journey to net zero. The next phase of this journey involves implementing the actions and recommendations set out in the Roadmap. We would personally like to thank industry, infrastructure owners and other key stakeholders for their valuable contributions. This was critical to realise an evidence-based roadmap that is designed to accommodate all industry’s needs

Image: Iain Weir (Optimat) delivering Key Findings presentation

The ‚ ‘East Coast cluster‚Äù currently consists of 28 company sites with total CO₂ emissions amounting to 8.6Mt. It encompasses 14 local authority areas, including Aberdeenshire, the City of Aberdeen, the City of Edinburgh, Dundee City, Falkirk, Fife, Midlothian, and Stirling. There are 11 industrial sectors within the cluster, including chemicals, food and drink, natural gas (processing and distribution), oil & gas (exploration and production), power, waste & wastewater. The goal of the project is to reduce net emissions from the cluster to zero by 2045. The roadmap shows how this can be achieved through a combination of approaches, particularly carbon capture and storage (CCS), fuel switching and direct air carbon capture (DACC). To ensure this happens, the project partners also articulated an action plan:

• Establish ownership and leadership of the roadmap implementation
• Develop and operate a co-ordination mechanism to ensure that all stakeholder groups are engaged and committed to delivery of the roadmap
• Support Project Acorn activities in the North East, to establish an initial focal point for the roadmap
• Investment in CO₂ pipeline infrastructure to support the cluster or, if this does not proceed, investment in CO₂ shipping hubs and local transport options
• Investment in hydrogen manufacturing, transport and supply, linking developing hydrogen manufacturing capacity with industrial users
• Investment in DACC capacity of at least 500,000 tonnes per annum capacity

In combination, these actions will deliver net zero and all need to be pursued in an integrated manner. The key challenge is that delivering net zero is dependent on different organisations – industry, infrastructure owners and the public sector – working in a cohesive manner to deliver a timely and mutually beneficial way forward.

Read the full report here

Scottish Net Zero Roadmap