A new project, the ‘Peak Cluster’, has been launched in the Peak District that aims to create a net zero future for the cement and lime industry. The plan is to prevent over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year by 2030, using a carbon capture and storage scheme (CCS).
The project embraces five cement and lime plants in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands and, as we in the Moorlands are well aware, carbon dioxide emitted from the cement and concrete industry accounts for around a quarter of the total emissions in Derbyshire and Staffordshire and 40% of all UK cement and lime is manufactured in the Peak District and around. As cement is the main ingredient in concrete and at present essential for the UK economy and the built infrastructure, there appears to be a case for using CCS to reduce the sector’s emissions and thereby ensure the sustainable future of the industry.
Many MCA members will not yet have formed a view on CCS; those that have probably share some of the concerns of many in the environmental movement: that the technology is relatively unproven at scale and at budget; that it might be used as a reason to go slow on finding alternatives to traditional cement and concrete; and that in some instances it is being used as a cover to prolong the use of fossil fuels. It also necessitates considerable infrastructure in the form of new plant and pipelines. But the chemical processes involved in traditional cement are impossible to remove in other ways and alternative materials lie a very long way off.
So, we appreciate that for the foreseeable future there is a continuing dependence on the cement and concrete industry and this scheme appears not to be designed to prop up the fossil fuel industry. We are further encouraged that the approach is endorsed by the Climate Change Committee, the independent statutory body that advises the government on emissions targets.
Nevertheless, the Peak Cluster pipeline will go under valuable countryside (likely including some of the Peak Park) and a decision on this will be taken by the Secretary of State (though the much smaller above ground infrastructure will have to go to SMDC Planning).
Peak Cluster have been very open in their desire to engage with the public and have offered to meet MCA members separately. We are currently arranging a date for this and for now are keeping an open mind on the project.
Photo credit: https://www.lhoist.com/sites/lhoist/files/peak_cluster_launch_map.png; https://www.lhoist.com/news/world-first-project-create-net-zero-cement-and-lime-cluster-peak-district