Net Zero

For many, the climate emergency is no longer abstract but a real societal problem. Having already set an ambitious science-based target to be carbon neutral by 2038 – 12 years ahead of UK’s target - Manchester is ahead of the game and already creating significant business opportunities to lead as a sustainable city of the future.

Local Government has already spent over £100 million to reduce the carbon impact from public buildings and social homes. But the appetite for change goes far beyond this. Government, academia and businesses in Greater Manchester are ready and waiting to collaborate with forward-thinking innovators to discover, develop and deploy new technologies across transport, energy, retrofitting and much more.

Manchester offers access to world-leading research facilities, state-of-the-art science parks and dedicated “living labs” which provide businesses with controlled and real-world environments to test and trial new low carbon innovations. Taking these innovations to production is made easier with Innovation GM – a blueprint for translational innovation between Greater Manchester (GM) and government, that could catalyse inclusive economic growth of £7bn and provide 100,000 jobs—with an emphasis on R&D commercialisation and industrialisation.

Green Finance

The Greater Manchester Environment Fund (GMEF), the UK’s first regional environmental impact fund, aims to generate over £100m of funding and investment to align with projects that benefit the environment around Greater Manchester.

Retrofitting

Retrofitting is high on the agenda and local Government has already invested £27 million this year with plans for a further £118 million investment to retrofit social homes to 2024 and £6 billion to 2038. This equates to circa 250,000+ social households. 

Major Development Projects

Manchester has invested in major development projects which really showcase the scale of low carbon commitments across the city-region. Examples are: Mayfield - a 24 acre brownfield site with a long-term plan to create a £1bn mixed-use community, with 1,500 new homes, a 6.5-acre public park, office and retail space; and Gateway North - A translational Innovation Zone cluster within the North East corridor which Contains the Advanced Machinery and Productivity Institute (AMPI).

These high-value public-private funded collaborations are setting blueprints for future programmes and investments.

Green Economy

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