JOURNALIST Simon Reeve has praised a research and development project led by a consortium of universities which helps businesses deliver net-zero emissions. 

Eco-I NW is a programme that supports low-carbon business innovations in Cumbria, Lancashire, Liverpool, Cheshire, Warrington and Greater Manchester. 

Highlighting the end of the project, the TV personality and filmmaker praised 80 enterprises that had embraced a pivotal emission-cutting challenge.

Supported by the University of Cumbria and partly financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the £14 million research and development partnership has seen six regional universities rolling out support and expertise on a scale never seen before.

The scheme aims for businesses to become carbon neutral by 2037, 13 years ahead of the 2050 government target. Eco-I NW works with a range of sectors, from hospitality to retail and events to charities. 

Simon Reeve said it was ‘exciting stuff that has great potential’, adding: “We need to have those incredible ideas.

“It’s a bit like people with a really good lottery ticket that you hope is going to win and the ideas are going to fly, because, my goodness, we need them." 

On a visit to Cumbria, he pointed to the peatland research carried out by the project, describing it as an ‘absolutely critical planetary important habitat’ and applauded a business turning seaweed into leather.