Cardiff University joins £22.5M green chemistry hub to decarbonise industry
9 July 2025
Cardiff University joins the universities of Sheffield, Newcastle, and Nottingham in an innovative new programme to revolutionise the chemical industries by replacing fossil-based feedstocks with sustainable alternatives.
Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), the centre brings together leading UK universities and over 30 industrial stakeholders. Cardiff University researchers will contribute expertise in atomistic and computational methods for catalysis, sustainable chemical processes, and systems integration, helping to deliver innovation from the lab to pilot scale.
The key focus of Great British Chemicals across its seven-year project will be on developing scalable, circular technologies that help industry reduce emissions, improve resilience, and drive green economic growth. GB Chemicals will work to make sustainable, valuable practices a working reality through using smarter chemical and biological conversion technologies to create cleaner chemicals and non-fossil feedstocks guided by social, environmental and economic analysis.
Dr Alberto Rodan Martinez, Senior Lecturer in Green Chemical Technologies at Cardiff University, shared: “Securing this funding is a tremendous opportunity to help reshape the future of the British chemical industry. Through truly multidisciplinary research and collaboration, we aim to build an evidence base that ensures sustainable feedstocks and net zero technologies become both viable and integral to an equitable, resilient, and profitable chemicals value chain.”
Alongside chemical innovations and evolving technologies, Great British (GB) Chemicals will also deliver technical, early-career, and entrepreneurship skills to develop and upskill the chemical workforce to deliver this essential transition, including support for university spinouts to help scale new innovations.
The UK’s chemical industry is reportedly worth £65.5 billion annually—equivalent to the aerospace, automotive and life sciences sectors combined—and is vital to manufacturing, healthcare, and clean technologies.
This announcement reinforces Cardiff School of Chemistry’s pivotal role in driving the UK’s green transition—making outsized contributions to Net Zero goals and helping to secure a more sustainable future for our planet.
The centre will officially launch on 1 August 2025, though collaborative work is already underway.