The UKRI’s Pioneer Places Fund has approved Phase 1 funding for a consortium bid led by Belfast City Council.

The funds will be used to create a ground-breaking strategy to address major obstacles in the city’s adoption of green hydrogen technologies.

The “Net Zero Belfast” project will be run in collaboration with Catagen and Artemis Technologies, with assistance from Belfast Met, Queens University, and Ulster University, with a geographic concentration on the Innovation District.

Councillor Séanna Walsh, chair of the council’s climate and city resilience committee, welcomed the money and the chance to hasten Belfast’s move toward net zero.

The city’s 400-acre Innovation District is home to the Belfast Airport, Belfast Port, international manufacturing firms, domestic Greentech firms, university research facilities, and educational facilities.

It extends from the brand-new campus of Ulster University in the heart of the city to the research facility of Queen’s University on Queen’s Island in the Harbour Estate.