Yorkshire unveils £50m Centre for Low Carbon Futures

Four Yorkshire universities have joined forces as part of a new £50m research programme designed to accelerate the roll out of low-carbon technologies.

The universities of Hull, Leeds, Sheffield and Yorkshire are to join with regional development agency Yorkshire Forward to form the Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF).

The group said the new centre would ensure that research projects do not overlap, better enable a multi-disciplinary approach to low-carbon initiatives and make it easier to partner with the business community.

Interim director, Tony Hardy, said that the primary aim of the new centre was to accelerate the roll out of technologies that will deliver real and quantifiable emission reductions. "The centre will provide the knowledge base to generate workable solutions for businesses and communities, promoting the uptake of innovations and creating change in the real world," he said. "Its work will protect those most vulnerable to the changes that climate change will bring to us all."

The centre has also appointed Ed Gallagher, former chief executive of the Environment Agency and current chair of the Renewable Fuels Agency, as chair of the CLCF board.

The group said that it has already approved its first four research projects covering a range of academic and technical areas. The first two pilot projects will assess how climate change and low-carbon policies will impact the Yorkshire region, and analyse business supply chains in an effort to identify the "carbon hotspots" where improvements can be made.

They will be accompanied by two technical projects that will explore the development of new biofuel crops and the effectiveness of clean-coal systems that aim to improve efficiency by undertaking combustion in oxygen-rich environments.