Our Mission
To be a world leading, truly sustainable industry, befitting the societal needs of 2030, 40, 50 and beyond.
Vision
SWIC will look to:
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Enable an efficient and sustainable manufacturing capability
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Develop the optimum electricity, Hydrogen and CCUS infrastructure to support net zero manufacturing
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Support the development of the Circular Economy
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Generate an inclusive, skilled and well-paid workforce helping to ensure a prosperous future for generations to come
These subsequent low carbon, circular economy based inclusive visions will inspire research, innovation and attract inward investment helping to ensure employment opportunities and prosperity for now and future generations.
As part of Net Zero Industry Wales, SWIC's main aim is achieving net zero…
…and at the same time reversing the decline of heavy industry in South Wales, creating economic prosperity for the country.
About SWIC
SWIC is a South Wales partnership between Welsh industry, energy suppliers, infrastructure providers, academia, legal sector, service providers and public sector organisations committed to a greener economy. SWIC is now governed by Net Zero Industry Wales.
SWIC was founded in January 2019. Nearly 70 people from various industries, academia and UK and Welsh Governments met and decided to come together to develop an industrial cluster for the region. A small steering group was formed, from which support funding was sought and planned.
That plan was successful and thirty-seven partner companies from within SWIC were subsequently awarded £21million from UK Government’s Research and Innovation Industrial Decarbonisation programme, which was match funded by industry, to total £40m for the development of a Cluster Plan and the development of design studies as part of the Deployment Project.
The Cluster Plan project maps out the plans and support needed by South Wales industry to enable it to become net zero by 2050. Led by CR Plus, it involves 30 partners, exploring the feasibility of decarbonisation proposals and the development of a circular and restorative economy.
The Deployment Project carried out engineering and feasibility studies into the structure and developments needed to make the region net zero by 2050. It is led by Costain and has 17 partners who have looked at the practical challenges for specific projects that will reduce emissions.
South Wales is the second largest industrial emitter in the UK, releasing the equivalent of 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year across industry and energy generation. The aim of SWIC is to develop a world leading, truly sustainable industrial cluster benefitting the societal needs for 2030, 40, 50 and beyond.
This will include circular economy innovations, energy efficiency, carbon dioxide avoidance, creating a Hydrogen economy, Carbon Capture Usage and Storage (CCUS) and low carbon power generation. SWIC intends to fuel the future of industry, using South Wales’ available resources, by exploring the feasibility and possibilities for the decarbonisation of the region and support the development of a circular restorative economy.
Industries within SWIC have options for how they decarbonise. Those options are primarily dependent upon the infrastructure available to those industries. Those options include technologies such as electrification, Hydrogen conversion and Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage. Most industries may also have to go through a Transition phase as the technologies or infrastructure does not yet exist to help them decarbonise. So, a company may have to temporary utilise CCS, for example, until a new technology has been developed for its main process. That is why Transitional technologies such as blue Hydrogen, renewable fuels, CCS, are so key to providing our industries with the means to survive the transition to net zero. SWIC wants to do everything it can to maintain and grow our industrial and manufacturing jobs for the future.
Manufacturing contributes £12bn to the Welsh economy and so it is vital for Wales that a ‘Just Transition’ is supported, managed and delivered in a successful way. As part of NZIW, SWIC's main aim is achieving net zero and at the same time reversing the decline of heavy industry in South Wales, creating economic prosperity for Wales. This will be done by developing and implementing plans to preserve the existing 113,000 manufacturing jobs and potentially creating thousands of new skilled jobs by 2050.
Our Mission
To be a world leading, truly sustainable industry, befitting the societal needs of 2030, 40, 50 and beyond.
