PLANET CASE STUDY
Climate Action
Tarmac Part of World-First Project to Create Net Zero Cement and Lime Cluster in Peak District
“Peak Cluster will make a crucial contribution towards the UK’s drive to net zero, making a serious impact on local, regional and national climate change targets. The project will help industry to continue to thrive into the future – safeguarding jobs, maintaining a booming supply chain, and allowing current and future generations to continue to work in, and enjoy, this beautiful region.”
John Egan of Progressive Energy, Peak Cluster Project Director
Tarmac is part of a world-first carbon capture and storage project which was launched in 2023 to create a net zero future for the cement and lime industry. Located in the Peak District, the project will prevent over three million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions each year by 2030.
The project, named Peak Cluster, was initiated by Tarmac, Breedon, Lhoist, and Aggregate Industries, together with the Lostock Sustainable Energy Plant in Cheshire, across five plants in the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands.
Carbon dioxide emitted from the cement and concrete industry accounts for around a quarter of the total emissions in Derbyshire and Staffordshire. With 40% of all UK cement and lime manufactured in the Peak District and local area, the project has the potential to dramatically reduce the sector’s emissions to ensure the sustainable, net zero future of this essential industry.
Cement is the main ingredient in concrete and therefore essential for the UK economy and the delivery of homes, schools and hospitals, as well as clean water, sanitation and energy infrastructure.
Led by Progressive Energy, Peak Cluster aims to capture and transport carbon dioxide emissions from industrial plants in Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire before permanently locking away the carbon dioxide beneath the East Irish Sea in one of the storage options which the project has access to – including Liverpool Bay CCS or the Morecambe Net Zero project announced in X.
Dr Diana Casey, Energy and Climate Change Executive Director at the Mineral Products Association, said: “The launch of the Peak Cluster is an exciting and vital step forward in the journey of the cement and lime sectors towards net zero. The region is a historic heartland for cement and lime production providing highly skilled jobs for local communities, and a secure supply of essential materials to the UK economy.
“The UK Concrete and Cement Industry Roadmap to Beyond Net Zero highlighted the importance of carbon capture for the decarbonisation of the cement and concrete supply chain and the Peak Cluster is an essential part of that transition. This launch demonstrates the commitment of cement and lime producers to transition to net zero to secure the future of these important industries, and the vital products they produce, in a net zero world.”
The cement and lime sector is a key part of a combined mineral products industry, which contributes around £18bn to the UK’s GDP and directly employs 81,000 people, supporting a further 3.5m jobs.
