Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the Peak Cluster project which proposes building a pipeline to carry compressed carbon dioxide from cement producers in Staffordshire and Derbyshire to gas storage facilities in Morcombe.

In July 2023, the previous government outlined the next two clusters it felt were best placed to take forward carbon capture after ECC and Hynet. These were Acorn, in the Northeast of Scotland, and Viking in the Humber. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero are continuing to engage with potential future projects, including the Peak Cluster, to understand their proposals.

The assessment for commissioning this project is undertaken through the Development Consent Order (DCO) process itself. The planning system is designed to assess whether the anticipated benefits of the project outweigh its potential costs and adverse impacts.