Humber sits at the heart of UK energy security and the UK’s net zero journey. It is one of the country’s most important industrial regions, generating around 20% of UK electricity, producing a significant share of refinery products, and acting as a major gateway for energy imports through UK’s largest port complex by tonnage.
That scale is exactly why Humber matters. It is also why decarbonisation here is non negotiable. Humber is the UK’s most carbon intensive industrial cluster, with emissions driven by power generation, refining, chemicals, heavy industry, and combined heat and power. Net zero and clean power targets cannot be delivered by simply closing or offshoring this activity. The only credible route is to transition industry, protect jobs and unlock the next phase of growth.
Years of planning and collaboration have brought Humber to a point where the next phase depends less on ambition and more on national decisions, infrastructure sequencing, and policy certainty. Projects cannot be switched on overnight. They require complex infrastructure, new supply chains and long term investment confidence. This page sets out the four core programme areas that underpin delivery, alongside the role Humber can play in proving what industrial transition looks like at scale.
Humber’s strength is the interconnected nature of the cluster. Energy security, hydrogen, carbon capture and offshore wind are not separate programmes. They are designed to work together across production, transport, storage and industrial use.
The Humber sits at the heart of the UK’s energy system. The region generates around 20% of the UK’s electricity, produces one third of its refinery products, and handles around one fifth of all gas imported into the country. It is home to the UK’s largest port complex by tonnage and supports over 360,000 jobs.
These are not future ambitions. They are existing assets and existing contributions to UK energy supply – built up over decades and critical to the functioning of the national economy.
Humber’s strength is the interconnected nature of the cluster. Hydrogen, carbon capture and offshore wind are not separate stories. They are designed to work together to protect and strengthen the UK’s domestic energy base for the long term.
A pathway to industrial decarbonisation and energy resilience
Hydrogen has a clear role in decarbonising industrial sectors where electrification is not always viable, including chemicals, refining and high temperature processes. It also provides an option for sites where carbon capture may not offer the right economies of scale.
Humber is positioned to become a leading low carbon hydrogen cluster, supported by a strong pipeline of proposed production projects across both green and blue hydrogen. Total planned production is projected to reach 5.2GW by 2030, with opportunities linked to industrial demand, power generation, and future export capability through port infrastructure.
Hydrogen transport and storage are the critical enablers. Consultations have outlined proposals for a Humber Hydrogen Pipeline connecting key industrial sites, alongside hydrogen storage assets that can help balance supply and demand and strengthen the wider energy system. Long duration storage is increasingly recognised as vital for energy security, price stability and a renewables led system.
The opportunity is significant, but delivery depends on policy certainty and timely infrastructure decisions. Hydrogen is not a future ambition. It is a near term industrial transition mechanism, provided the right market frameworks, planning routes and delivery sequencing are in place.
The foundation for industrial transition at scale
Carbon capture and storage is central to Humber’s industrial decarbonisation plans and is widely recognised as critical to meeting UK net zero targets. It provides the route to decarbonise power generation and heavy industry while protecting jobs and preventing emissions being offshored.
Humber is uniquely positioned for CCS delivery. Two thirds of UK licensed carbon storage capacity sits offshore from Humber, alongside a high concentration of planned capture projects across power, refining, chemicals and industrial sites. The region has two principal CCS infrastructure routes in development, including ,infrastructure, including Viking CCS and Northern Endurance Partnership , both designed to connect captured CO2 to long term offshore storage beneath the North Sea.
What matters now is network delivery. Progressing transport and storage infrastructure, and providing clarity on sequencing and inclusion, is essential to unlock confidence and investment. CCS infrastructure must be delivered in a way that is efficient and future proofed, allowing additional emitters and smaller projects to connect over time.
CCS is not only a decarbonisation tool. It is an industrial competitiveness tool, an energy security tool and a jobs protection tool. It is the enabling infrastructure that allows Humber to transition industry rather than lose it.
Accelerating clean power and industrial growth
Humber is already central to UK offshore wind delivery. Around one third of UK offshore wind capacity operates from the Humber coast, with major new projects in development that will continue to grow that contribution through to 2030.
This strength is not only about generation. Humber has built an offshore wind economy with manufacturing, operations, innovation and skills embedded into the region. Blade manufacturing in Hull, operations and maintenance activity based around Port of Grimsby, innovation assets across the area, and access to offshore sites through regional ports and aviation all support a supply chain that is already delivering at scale.
The next phase requires pace. Meeting national clean power ambitions depends on continued offshore wind deployment, grid connectivity and a clear route to market. Offshore wind is one of the quickest ways to drive clean power while creating skilled employment and supporting wider industrial transition.