Decarbonising the water sector will be the focus of Innovate East 2021, which returns this month as a virtual event exploring how the sector can achieve net zero by 2030.
The event will be co-hosted by Yorkshire, Essex & Suffolk and Anglian water companies as the lead sponsors of the Public Interest Commitment to achieve net zero carbon by 2030.
Innovate East, which was held in 2019 in Suffolk, will this year be divided into three segments throughout the year building to COP26 in November.
The virtual events will develop ideas to reduce carbon and tackle climate change with focussed threads on hydrogen, nature-based solutions and technology-based solutions.
The hydrogen-based solutions sprint will explore developing an end-to-end approach for hydrogen within the water industry’s net zero ambitions. It will address key issues, such as how water companies can facilitate the production of carbon to become self-sufficient.
The nature-based solutions sprint will develop on widely adopted practices and how they can play a greater role in achieving the collective net zero target. It will address problems such as treating ammonia, how to reduce flooding risks and how to exploit upland catchment management.
Within the technology-based solutions sprint participants can look at how to minimise emissions through the acceleration of trialling, testing and applying technologies at scale while overcoming regulatory and financial obstacles.
Water UK published its routemap for cutting carbon from the sector in November, but this included gaps that it admitted needed further innovative work to solve.
Angela MacOscar, head of innovation at Essex & Suffolk, said the topics are important components of the sector’s routemap to net zero.
“We have delivered successful projects when using nature-based solutions in the past and these have been of great benefit to us in terms of efficiency, carbon and social capital, MacOscar said.
Shaunna Berendsen, Anglian’s head of innovation engagement, said the cross company event will focus minds on the journey to net zero throughout the events this year to benefit the sector and beyond.
“Reducing our operational emissions to net zero by 2030 will be a substantial challenge and there are many barriers to overcome in specific areas,” added Pete Stevens, Yorkshire’s manager of carbon neutrality. “Forming and delivering these sprints helps us align innovation with the net zero route map public interest commitment.”
The first event kicks off on 24 March with sessions running concurrently on each subject.