The UK government is helping to fund a carbon capture initiative which it said will become the largest cement decarbonisation project in the world.
The £28.6 million investment from the National Wealth Fund in the Peak Cluster project is the first step towards the development of the carbon capture pipeline connecting cement and lime plants in the Peak District.
The government said the Peak Cluster project will be the world’s largest cement decarbonisation project and prevent over three million tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere every year.
Peak Cluster consists of four cement and lime plants in the area, which is home to 40% of the UK’s cement and lime production. There are three plants in Derbyshire, owned by Tarmac, Breedon and SigmaRoc, while the Holcim plant is in Staffordshire.
The CO2 will be captured at the cement plants and then transported through underground pipelines to a storage site - Morecambe Net Zero - under the seabed in the eastern Irish sea.
Cement is the key ingredient in concrete, the world’s most widely used material. But cement and lime are two of the hardest industrial sectors to decarbonise due to the high levels of CO2 emissions generated in their manufacturing process. Cement production currently accounts for 7.5% of global CO2 emissions.
“Capturing the carbon dioxide they emit is the only viable way the cement and lime industry can operate successfully in a low carbon future economy,” the group said.
The £59.6 million equity investment in Peak Cluster is made up of £28.6 million from the National Wealth Fund and £31 million through a joint venture vehicle between Summit Energy Evolution Ltd (part of Sumitomo Corporation) and Progressive Energy Peak Ltd, as well as each of the Peak Cluster cement and lime producers Tarmac, Breedon, Holcim, and SigmaRoc.
The government said Peak Cluster and Morecambe Net Zero could create and secure 13,000 jobs, by supporting over 2,000 existing jobs in the cement and lime industry, plus around 300 new jobs created at manufacturing sites and 1,200 temporary jobs created for the construction of the pipeline and capture facilities.
The National Wealth Fund has said it will commit at least £5.8 billion by 2030 in hydrogen, carbon capture, ports and supply chains, gigafactories and EV supply chains, and steel.
Diana Casey, Chair of the Mineral Products Association said: “If our industry, and the jobs which rely on it, are to survive, and thrive into the future, we must implement carbon capture and storage without delay.”
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