Derbyshire Climate Coalition position paper on Carbon Capture and Storage

Download the position paper here

Summary

Cement and lime production is one of the single biggest point sources of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in Derbyshire, responsible for over a third of the County’s emissions. The bulk of these come from a large cluster of cement and lime plants (known as the ‘Peak Cluster’) in and around Buxton in the High Peak.

The production of CO2 is inherent in the process of cement and lime manufacture and therefore difficult to abate through resource and energy efficiencies alone. To address the residual process emissions, the Peak Cluster plan to develop Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), including a pipeline to Ellesmere Port (Cheshire) and storage of CO2 at depth below the Irish Sea.

However, the cement and lime industry’s roadmap to net zero does not include the role of demand reduction (i.e. reducing the amount of cement needed in the first place) or the use of cement-free concrete or recycled concrete, both of which could reduce CO2 emissions significantly and potentially avoid the need for CCS.

Demand reduction includes using less concrete by reusing existing buildings rather than demolishing them, better design and substituting less CO2 intensive materials ─ especially timber for construction. It has been suggested that up to 90% of concrete used in building construction could be replaced with timber. Given that over four-fifths of cement in the UK is used in building, a move towards timber in construction of buildings has significant potential to reduce CO2 emissions.

Low/zero CO2 concretes are based on cementitious materials from waste streams or naturally occurring substrates, which can reduce CO2 emissions significantly. Recycling concrete from demolished buildings, which has recently been done at scale, could also help to reduce the use of new cement/concrete.

The increasing use of cement substitutes and development of novel cements that don’t rely on limestone breaks the link to large scale extraction of virgin limestone and makes the cement industry of the future more mobile. The obvious new locations would be coastal hubs for energy intensive industries, particularly sites proposed for the new hydrogen industry and where offshore wind energy will be landed.

While many hopes in the cement and lime industry are pinned on CCS, and the technology for use at scale exists in Norway, there are significant impacts associated with building and operating the plant, pipeline and storage facilities including a large footprint (in areas of valued landscape and a national park) and heavy energy use. It also comes with high risks such as the need to store CO2 on a geological timescale. It will also be extremely costly, possibly doubling the cost of cement, and there will need to be a robust tariff regime to ensure locally produced cement with CCS would not be undercut by high CO2 cement imports.

These challenges are recognised by the government for sites which are distant from coastal areas, which raises the option of a ‘managed retreat’ and early retirement of older plant.

Recommendations for government

• Develop and implement accredited embodied carbon rating certificates for concrete (and lime)
• Safeguard waste streams, that can be used instead of cement based on limestone, for future use.
• Quantify the carbon savings from substitution of cement with timber in
• Implement ambitious and robust standards for net zero/carbon negative homes, which include a requirement for all new homes to have low embodied energy materials, as soon as possible.
• Set national standards for the reuse and refurbishment of existing buildings and the recycling of concrete, especially in relation to embodied
• If permission for CCS is given, this must be predicated on (a) a robust tariff regime to prevent the market for carbon-mitigated cement from being undercut by imports of non-mitigated cement; (b) clear responsibility for ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the CO2 storagereservoirs over an indefinite and constant period, including replacement of wellheads when necessary, with minimal CO2 leakage; (c) proper account of the total CO2 budget of CCS including the energy used to build and operate the plants and pipeline and (d) effective mitigation of the cumulative environmental

Recommendation for Derbyshire County Council

• Make policies in mineral plan less permissive of cement making to facilitate timely adherence to meeting carbon targets and