Written by Harry Turnbull
Plans to tear up the countryside to plant pipelines to suck Co2 out of heavy industries is seen as a bold step towards decarbonisation. But that’s not the view of those along the route of one of them – the Peak Cluster project.
The government is backing a plan to allow cement and lime polluters in the Midlands to pipe away their problems up to the Irish Sea while shifting much of the cost on to the taxpayer.
The idea is simple: instead of eliminating emissions, use technology to capture them, pipe them across the country, and bury them under the seabed. Out of sight, out of mind. It allows companies like Breedon, Tarmac, Holcim and Buxton Lime to keep their fossil fuelled industries going while tapping into government funding earmarked for carbon capture and storage. It also conveniently shields them from future carbon taxes.
Residents along the proposed route are furious. In the Wirral, councillors described a recent meeting with Peak Cluster as “tense” and “deeply troubling.” They say the developers showed no intention of listening to local concerns, no willingness to adjust their preferred route, and no sign of compassion for the communities in the way. “They made it brutally clear that, in their view, this project will proceed regardless,” one councillor said. Green councillor Gail Jenkinson said “hard to think of a worse solution,” pointing to a 50‑metre chimney that would dominate the landscape. The answer is to remove the CO₂ at source.
Meanwhile, one innovative company has quietly demonstrated that the cement industry can revolutionise.
Material Evolution, with a production facility based in Llay near Wrexham, has built the UK’s largest ultra‑low‑carbon cement facility. It produces 120,000 tonnes a year with up to 85% fewer emissions than conventional cement — without kilns, without heat, and without carbon capture. It is operating today, not in 2030 or 2050. If scaled, it could remove the need for the Peak Cluster pipeline entirely. Yet almost no one in government seems to know it exists.
The Public Accounts Committee is equally alarmed. In a recent report, it warned that the government is committing vast sums of taxpayer and consumer money to first‑of‑a‑kind, unproven technology with no mechanism to ensure the public ever sees a return. The government has already abandoned its 2030 targets for carbon capture, with no revised goals in sight. Not a single contract includes profit‑sharing for taxpayers or guarantees of lower energy bills if the scheme succeeds. The risk is public; the reward is private.
Dr Liz Gilligan, co-founder and CEO of Material Evolution, declined to comment on the pipeline row but recently said:
“With cement imports having nearly tripled over the past two decades, the UK is missing a significant opportunity to reduce emissions while supporting local industry,” she said. “Low-carbon, locally sourced materials are proven to be scalable, reliable and economically viable — but procurement rules need to evolve to prioritise their adoption.”
It raises a simple question: if the technology to eliminate emissions already exists, why are we spending billions to bury them instead?
Peak Cluster’s chief executive Jon Egan insists the pipeline is essential.
“Peak Cluster is such an important project for Britain’s economy – helping to protect our vital industries and securing highly-skilled jobs,” he said. “With cement imports having tripled in the last 20 years, and domestic production at its lowest level since the 1950s, there has never been a greater need to build a resilient, sustainable supply. Peak Cluster will be the world’s largest cement and lime decarbonisation project – using proven technology to establish the UK as an international leader in responsible, sustainable manufacturing.”
Don’t ask Wrexham MP Andrew Ranger as he is unaware a company on his doorstep has developed this vital green technology. Instead he trots out the usual stuff:
“The growing negative impact of climate change on everyone’s lives is huge: measures to tackle it have been delayed for far too long, leading to the negative impact getting worse and worse. We cannot continue to ignore it and not tackle it, it is our responsibility to our children, grandchildren and future generations to fix the mess we have made and that we have benefitted from. Therefore, it is incumbent on us to consider all solutions to this challenge including carbon capture projects as well as adopting new cleaner and greener manufacturing processes such as you suggest. The company you mention have not made contact with me but, of course, I would be happy to hear from them and discover more about what they are doing and how it will help all of us tackle the climate emergency.”
About the author
Harry Turnbull is an experienced journalist based in the north who has held a variety of reporting and editing roles in the media. He also writes a reviews column for the UK’s biggest archive of BBC radio dramas.
https://www.clippings.me/hotoffthepress