We must avoid the mistakes of the coal mine closures during the Net Zero transition - Henri Murison

Last week, the South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard joined business leaders to launch SY Energy, as well as to set forward a clear plan from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership for an additional 168,000 jobs across the North by 2050.

This is the growth which comes from the transition to decarbonise not only our energy system, but the wider economy. I was struck by how Lloyds in providing finance has been drawing on the work and priorities of our Metro Mayors despite the absence of late of any clear industrial strategy nationally. As new Ministers like Sarah Jones MP begin to put back together the puzzles of both industrial strategy and the energy transition they have a clear path to follow.

In terms of energy, the benefit of a fleet of Small Modular Reactors is not only the electricity they will generate. The jobs in the supply chain and the factories that will be built by those who are chosen through the current ongoing process. Rolls Royce SMR, as one of the bidders, are considering sites in the North, including in South Yorkshire. On the Humber, to secure more of future offshore wind manufacturing the council leaders of the East Riding and Hull secured a commitment of initial funding towards Green Port 2 in their devolution deal.

On Carbon Capture and Storage, we await big decisions for the major emitters from Selby through to Immingham, and we need clarity and certainty from the government. There are many jobs on the line which can be saved for decades to come, or lost, depending on providing certainty. With GB Energy chaired by Juergen Maier, who ran Siemens here in the UK, and further tools to accelerate deployment, we can go faster. This will rely largely on private and not primarily public investment, with analysis by Cambridge Economics suggesting at least an 80:20 rate of private funding to public money needed (the same leverage as can be achieved with retrofitting buildings).

On transport, hydrogen alongside electrification will unlock jobs, and we will also have significant opportunities in land-based solutions.

Working with our Metro Mayors - Oliver, Tracy and David - I have every confidence for the future. I know this region and the wider North of England can draw on the presence of the UKIB in Leeds, to be at the centre of the new Government’s Wealth Fund, to unlock money from the insurance sector as well as directly make an impact.

The test of government is not just how fast we get to Net Zero. It is how much private investment has every penny of government investment leveraged by 2050. It is how many of the jobs in the carbon intensive sectors have been secured by decarbonising them. And finally, to what extent have we made places like Goole and Grimsby, as well as our cities, the beneficiaries of this great upheaval. We cannot repeat the mistakes of the past when coal mines closed; and too many of our communities paid the price.

Henri Murison is the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.