Last Friday marked the official final celebration event for the ZCOP (Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership) Industrial Decarbonisation Project!
The project, funded by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and delivered by a consortium of public and private sector organisations, is working with local industry to collaborate on creating a targeted action plan and roadmap for Oxford's unique industrial sector to decarbonise by 2040.
As some of you will know, a lot of hard work has gone into this project over the past 11 months, and on Friday we finally got to share the results and future direction of all that work!
As emphasised by Oxford City Council’s Cllr Anna Railton and Kristina Mould on the night, several of Oxford's industrial companies already have strong ambitions to decarbonise, but without buy-in from the whole sector, Oxford risks missing its 2040 target. However, a collection of locally driven, collaborative actions could significantly accelerate emission reductions, which feature in our action plan, presented by ERM’s Amelia Mitchell.
We followed these presentations with a panel discussion, featuring Ramona Dienel (Director of Finance and Compliance, BMW MINI), Patrick Allcorn (Head of Local Net Zero at Department for Energy Security and Net Zero), Dr Jan Rosenow, (Vice President & Director, Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) and Research Associate, University of Oxford and University of Cambridge) and Cllr Anna Railton (Deputy Council Leader, Oxford City Council).
We discussed the challenges of SME engagement, upskilling and carbon literacy, the upcoming Industrial Strategy, the benefits of cluster-facilitated collaboration, and the specific lessons learnt in Oxford that could be beneficial to other regions.
It was also announced on the night that, owing to the success of projects such as this, there will be a county-wide expansion of the Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership, which will drive further collaborative climate action in the region.
Thanks so much to all our attendees, speakers, and project partners for making this event so successful.
To find out more about the Zero Carbon Oxford Partnership, the Industrial Decarbonisation Project and our action plan, and how to get involved, please visit the website: https://lnkd.in/ewYiktZJ
Alternatively, please email: ZCOP@oxford.gov.uk
Oxford City Council BMW Group Unipart Group ARC | Advanced Research Clusters ERM
Claudia Canepa Sam Morgan-Price Amelia Mitchell Edward Grindrod Emmanuel Deschamps Gregory Stephens Emma Hubberstey Stuart Cole