Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to support research and development in the ceramics industry to help reduce carbon emissions.

At the 2020 Budget, my Rt. Hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that the Government will at least double the size of the Department’s Energy Innovation Programme to £1 billion. This programme will focus on decarbonising UK power, homes, and industry (including ceramics), to meet the challenge of net zero emissions by 2050.

Ceramics, along with the other 5 sectors that make up the foundation industries, are eligible for a share of the £66 million Transforming Foundation Industries element of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund. This Challenge looks to reduce environmental impact, including carbon emissions, through resource and energy efficiency. We are funding a number of projects relevant to the ceramics industry, including hybrid sintering, the development of new ceramic fibres for enhanced filtering, heat recovery in furnaces, robotics-based optimisation, and non-combustible cladding systems.