DECARBONISING DISPERSED INDUSTRIES: A FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING RURAL INDUSTRIAL ENERGY TRANSITIONS IN THE UK

Credit to Dr Philip Nicholson of the ADE Research team on this paper, which is currently in its review. The pre-print is available for download below. 

This work was funded by Ofgem and UK Research and Innovation Strategic Investment Fund in collaboration with Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and Guidehouse.

Key insights from the paper include:

▪️ Five rural industrial archetypes identified, highlighting the need for tailored, collaborative policies – not one-size-fits all solutions. 
▪️ Rural industries power 23% of UK businesses and 3.6 million jobs, making them critical to achieving net-zero targets.
▪️ Systemic barriers including infrastructure limitations, economic barriers, policy misalignments, and capacity constraints hinder rural industries in the net-zero transition. 
▪️ Targeted interventions such as ESCO models and aggregation approaches to pricing reforms and infrastructure investments, are vital in delivering an inclusive, nationwide net-zero transition.