The North West is positioning itself as the home of Britain’s industrial decarbonisation. The government has confirmed £11bn of funding for the HyNet hydrogen production and carbon-capture programme, centred on the Origin Cluster at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire — a project expected to create around 6,000 jobs and trigger an anticipated £5bn of private investment within five years.
HyNet is one of the UK’s flagship efforts to decarbonise heavy industry. By producing low-carbon hydrogen and capturing carbon dioxide from industrial sites across the North West and North Wales, it offers existing manufacturers — chemicals, glass, energy-intensive producers — a route to cut emissions without shutting down. That matters enormously for a region whose economy still rests heavily on industry.
The clean-energy workforce
The jobs dimension is central. The wider North West Clean Power Plan projects up to 35,000 new clean-energy roles across the region by 2028, with Cheshire and Warrington among the areas set to benefit most directly. HyNet anchors that ambition — a single programme large enough to seed an entire supply chain of engineering, construction and operational employment.
Why Cheshire, why now
Ellesmere Port and the surrounding Cheshire industrial belt have the right ingredients: a dense cluster of energy-intensive manufacturers, existing infrastructure, and depleted gas fields offshore suitable for permanent carbon storage. Pairing that geography with £11bn of public commitment is what turns industrial decarbonisation from aspiration into a buildable project.
For the North West, HyNet is a chance to do something rare — protect and modernise its industrial base rather than watch it decline. If it delivers, Cheshire could become not the site of Britain’s industrial past, but a template for its lower-carbon future.
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