• Derbyshire and Staffordshire are home to 40% of the UK’s cement and lime production.
• They produce a significant amount of emissions through their manufacturing processes.
• This is the first time the NWF invests in a carbon capture project.

The National Wealth Fund (NWF) has invested £28.6 million in a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project for decarbonising the UK's lime and cement industries.

The NWF will invest in the Peak Cluster project of Peak Cluster Ltd, which will capture and store carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the UK's high-emitting cement and lime industries and transport them through a planned pipeline.

The announcement is part of a bigger funding round worth £59.6 million, which included investors such as Summit Energy Evolution Ltd, Progressive Energy Peak Ltd, and established players in the cement and lime sectors, including Tarmac, Breedon, Holcim, and SigmaRoc.

A principal aspect of the project is the construction of a CO₂ transport pipeline, which will be built in Derbyshire and Staffordshire, two regions in the UK that account for 40% of the country's cement and lime production. These sectors are difficult to decarbonise, as their emissions predominantly happen during the manufacturing process and not just from fossil fuels.

Once the pipeline is up and running, it will transport CO₂ to the Morecambe Net Zero (MNZ) project, where Spirit Energy, an energy company, is converting its old gas fields in the East Irish Sea into the UK’s largest CO₂ storage site.

The industries play an important role in construction and manufacturing, and by decarbonising them, the UK will create around 13,000 jobs and make its supply of cement and lime more sustainable.

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John Flint, NWF CEO, said: “Substantial private investment, deployed at risk, will be needed to develop and deliver carbon capture projects across the UK. Through its investments, the NWF is well placed to support this. Capital must be committed now, especially in hard-to-abate sectors such as cement and lime, to ensure a pipeline of projects is ready for deployment and the UK is able to meet its ambitious carbon capture targets.

“The NWF has played a key role in structuring the transaction to crowd in private sector co-investment while taking early development risk to catalyse future investment. Our involvement demonstrates how we can use our risk capital to solve problems and manage investment uncertainty, amplifying government policy and ultimately removing the barriers for private investors to support this project post-FID.”

The NWF's investment will be used to support the early stages of the project, for Front-End Engineering and Design (FEED) and other planning and consent processes, with the expectation of a Final Investment Decision (FID) by 2028. This is intended to reduce the risks for private investors and move the project towards full construction in the future.

Carbon capture and storage is one of the UK government's priority areas, and through an initiative like Peak Cluster, the NWF is building markets, encouraging private investment, and expediting the clean-up of high-emitting industries.

Ends/

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Source: NWF