New projects including ‘carbon-capturing’ cement and asphalt made from green waste are to receive government funding to help boost innovation in decarbonising roads.

Winning projects include ‘carbon-capturing’ cement and green waste being used to make asphalt

The £30m Department for Transport funding has been awarded through the Live Labs 2: Decarbonising Local Roads competition, supporting work by local highways authorities to tackle the long-term decarbonisation of highways infrastructure.

The funding has been allocated to seven new regional projects using the latest tech and innovations to reduce emissions, improve regional connectivity and accelerate the journey to net-zero local roads.

Winners include projects to cut carbon emissions from our streetlights and to produce asphalt made from green waste such as grass cuttings. Other schemes explore changes to the design, construction and maintenance of typical UK highway construction, as well as plans to develop a first-of-its-kind system approach to creating a net carbon negative model for green infrastructure delivery.

Roads Minister Richard Holden said: “The UK is a world leader in technology and innovation and we must use that strength to drive decarbonisation and the next generation of high-tech jobs that go alongside it.

“We are supporting this vital agenda to help level-up through £30m funding for ground-breaking projects and boosting regional connections to support growth.

“The Government is determined to create good, well-paid jobs – via innovation and investment across the UK – as we accelerate the road to net zero.”

Bidders for the funding were encouraged to create partnerships across the public and private sector, and academia. The winning projects will be working together across four interconnected themes, including a green carbon laboratory using ‘green assets’ from highways to decarbonise operations; a future lighting testbed; a UK centre of excellence for materials; and corridor and place-based decarbonisation.

The programme was organised by the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning & Transport (ADEPT) and follows the previous Live Labs 1 project, which saw £22.9m invested in innovations to drive adoption of digital technology across the local roads sector in England.