UKRI: Building a green future

Overview

Through their five year strategy Transforming Tomorrow Together 2022 to 2027, UKRI aims to harness the full power of the UK’s research and innovation system to tackle large-scale, complex challenges. 

They have identified five strategic themes to enable working across disciplines and leveraging new and existing investment and activity.

Building a green future is one of the themes. It will accelerate the UK’s transition to a secure and prosperous green economy by 2050.

Partnering with UK government departments, business and internationally, we will build on our existing £800 million (per year) portfolio to fast-track development of solutions necessary for meeting our net zero targets, through strategic cross-UKRI investments. This will keep the UK at the forefront of the green industrial revolution.

Sub-themes

Targeting national priorities

Working in partnership with government to co-create research and innovation programmes that address strategic priorities for green growth in the UK.

Achieving the last 20%

Research and innovation in technologies which are not yet ready but we will need to achieve reduced emissions beyond 2030. We will build capability to address fundamental problems of net zero, requiring long-term investment, including through equitable partnership with other leading science nations.

Accelerating the green economy

Addressing the near-term costs of transition to a low-carbon economy, by unlocking solutions and focusing private sector investment. We will develop, deploy and scale up market-ready solutions, creating conditions for inward private investment through clustering UKRI and government funding in:

businesses
research
skills
expertise

Opportunities, support and resources available

Nature positive workshop

This workshop features talks from industry experts, academics and policymakers, followed by a series of facilitated discussions to inform future NERC and wider UKRI programmes supporting business transition to nature positive strategies.

UKRI Building a green future congress – 7 October 2024

They’re bringing together leading stakeholders in an invite-only event to explore the critical role of research and innovation in UK’s transition to a green economy. High-level speakers and panel chairs include among others Professor Sir Jim McDonald (President of Royal Academy of Engineering), Professor Sir Ian Boyd (President of Royal Society of Biology) and Professor Sarah Sharples (Chief Scientific Advisor Department for Transport).