Decade-long plan to ignite green energy revolution in Yorkshire backed by MP in Commons debate

The BioYorkshire initiative in York is aimed at helping drive a new era of bio-manufacturing and farming, as well as dramatically reducing carbon emissions.

The Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, highlighted the work of the ambitious project during an adjournment debate in the House of Commons yesterday evening.

She claimed that BioYorkshire was an opportunity to bring “skills, jobs and hope” to the region and “the start of high ethical regeneration in our generation”.

“When opportunity comes, to accelerate our path to net zero, to cut carbon, to protect our biodiversity, to end the plastic endemic, to enable a carbon negative future, to put investment in sustainability, it must be grasped,” she told MPs. “I say to government, if ever there was a project that could seed its ‘levelling up’ agenda in the region, then Bio-Yorkshire will also deliver.”

The project is harnessing the expertise of scientists and industry experts and is led by the University of York, Askham Bryan College and Fera Science Ltd.

It is estimated innovation and skills developed through BioYorkshire will add as much as £1.4bn in GVA in Yorkshire, while creating more than 4,000 jobs.

The project is aimed at shaping enterprises to deliver bio-based production of chemicals, materials and fuels, while enabling eco-friendly food production, farming and wider land use practices.

Ms Maskell said: “It will not only place York and Yorkshire at the heart of the UK biosciences economy, but the UK at the heart of the global bioeconomy.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson outlined a strategy in November 2020 for a green industrial revolution which he claimed would create 250,000 jobs. He said it would focus on eco-projects ranging from off-shore wind, electric vehicles and carbon capture to achieve the UK’s target of reaching net zero emissions by 2050.