Net Zero Industry Wales' purpose is to make Wales the country of choice for sustainable goods and services.
By supporting a trusted, sustainable, prosperous and resilient Welsh industry that leads the transition to a healthier, equal and cohesive Wales, resulting in an industry that the citizens of Wales are proud of, is globally responsible and builds on its industrial heritage.
The Net Zero Industry Wales member organisations acknowledge their responsibility, to reducing Greenhouse Gas emissions and limit global warming to well below 2°C as set out in the Paris Agreement.
The members are committed to transition towards producing more sustainable goods and services in Wales, as set out in the SWIC Cluster Plan, at a pace needed to meet the legally binding targets.
However, in a globally competitive environment, Welsh industry needs the active support of UK, as well as Welsh Government, to create the Supportive Culture, Policy and Regulatory frameworks and Attractive Infrastructure that creates a level playing field, encourages the significant investment needed to make the transition to Net Zero and prevents carbon leakage.
This investment will build on Wales’ Industrial Heritage and power the Green Industrial Revolution needed, to create a trusted, sustainable, prosperous and resilient industry that the citizens of Wales can continue to be proud of.
The Role of Industry in a Net Zero Future
Wales has a large industrial heritage and played a major role in the first industrial revolution, which was powered by Welsh coal. The abundance of a competitively priced, high quality energy source, attracted energy intensive industry to base itself in Wales and this industrial footprint still largely exists and provides 100,000’s of well paid, high quality jobs in Wales.
The floating offshore wind development in the Celtic Sea and the untapped onshore wind development potential in Wales, allows once again, access to an abundance of competitively priced green energy.
This will power the Green Industrial Revolution, which is needed to respond to the climate emergency and make our world more sustainable.
Electricity generation and industry (manufacturing) is currently one of the major contributors to Wales’s carbon footprint, with close to 60% of its total emissions reported in 2019, coming from these two sectors and as such are a significant part of the “problem”. However, these sectors produce the products - electricity, steel, cement, insulation, nickel, chemicals - required to transition to net zero and as such play a major role in the supply chain to create the Net Zero future we all want (steel and cement for floating offshore wind turbines, steel and nickel for electric vehicles, insulation and rebar steel for energy efficient homes).
Closing industry down to meet the UK and Welsh climate targets and import these goods from other countries, will “offshore” these emissions and most likely increase the total global carbon emissions, as most of the products manufactured by Welsh industry generally have a lower carbon footprint than the global average.
Therefore, the globally responsible action to take is to support and encourage the uptake of the low carbon technologies, so that Welsh industry can further decrease its carbon intensity and remain competitive. So that it can continue to supply high value products as part of the Green Industrial Revolution, whilst also providing well paid, high quality jobs.