en.Wedoany.com Reported - UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves announced a £59.6 million (approximately $80 million) funding package to launch the Peak Cluster carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, aimed at transforming the industrial heartlands of central and northwest England.
The UK government describes the project as the world's largest cement decarbonization joint development initiative, planning to build a permanent transportation pipeline to capture process emissions from traditional cement and lime production facilities in Derbyshire, Staffordshire, and the northwest region.
The funding includes £28.6 million in public capital from the UK's newly established National Wealth Fund (NWF), with the remaining £31 million provided by a private sector consortium comprising Holcim, Tarmac, Breedon, and SigmaRoc, along with midstream developers Summit Energy Evolution and Progressive Energy.
The funds will be used to develop a major transportation corridor to deliver captured carbon dioxide to depleted gas reservoirs off the coast of Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, for permanent storage beneath the Irish Sea.
Protecting sovereign heavy industry and eliminating process emissions are core objectives of the project. The cement and lime sectors are difficult to decarbonize because up to two-thirds of their greenhouse gas emissions originate from the chemical process of calcination. Once fully operational, the Peak Cluster network is designed to capture and safely store over 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually.
The project's economic benefits are significant: pipeline construction will immediately create 300 high-skilled permanent jobs and 1,200 temporary construction positions, while permanently retaining over 2,000 existing manufacturing jobs. The government estimates that the combined effect of Peak Cluster and the adjacent Morecambe Net Zero storage project could generate up to 13,000 regional jobs.
By de-risking the high capital expenditure required for subsea carbon transport, the UK government provides long-term regulatory and financial predictability, enabling the country's foundational building materials industry to remain viable under a net-zero framework.
