Facebook Posts and AI Raise Misinformation Concerns, Says Peak Cluster CEO

The chair of a controversial carbon capture project has expressed concerns about “challenging” misinformation regarding the proposed 120-mile pipeline, citing Facebook posts and AI as key drivers of public opposition.

Dave Parkin, who leads the Peak Cluster project, acknowledged the significant pushback from residents in Wirral during a recent public engagement event at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion Theatre. “It’s pretty clear there is not a huge amount of public support, if any, on the Wirral,” Parkin told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The £5 billion project aims to capture carbon dioxide emissions from cement production in the Peak District and store them in depleted gas fields off the Morecambe coast. Plans include linking with Essar’s Tranmere oil terminal to import carbon dioxide from other locations and building a four to five-storey compression facility near Meols or Moreton.

If approved, construction could begin in 2029 and continue until 2032. The UK government has already committed £28.6 million toward the initiative, signaling its strategic importance in the nation’s carbon reduction efforts.

Opposition to the project has been robust and cross-partisan, with councillors from all political parties in Wirral opposing the development. Local MPs have faced mounting pressure to speak out against the scheme, prompting Peak Cluster to increase its public engagement efforts.

During the April 20th information session, hundreds gathered outside the venue to protest, calling for the project to be scrapped. Campaign organizers reported that opposition to the pipeline was only growing stronger among local residents.

Parkin specifically pointed to social media as a complicating factor in the public discourse. “Social media is a very powerful agent. It is largely used for social good. We do have our concerns about it. It is proving reasonably challenging for us, I’ll be very blunt about that,” he said.

He noted a significant shift in how misinformation spreads compared to previous infrastructure projects he has worked on. “I spent the last decade delivering another big project and I think social media use has moved on quite considerably. There’s a lot more use of AI and probably a little bit less fact-checking.”

Among the misconceptions Parkin sought to address was the notion that the pipeline corridor would remain permanently fenced off. He clarified that the current 300-meter corridor where the pipeline could be built would eventually be narrowed down, and after construction, “we will reinstate so the farmers can go back to largely what they were doing previously.”

Parkin also expressed frustration about online claims regarding alternative technologies for decarbonizing cement production. He emphasized that while there is “a vast amount of information” supporting the necessity of carbon capture for this industry, these points were frequently “shouted down” at public forums.

Despite the UK’s 2050 net-zero target seeming distant, Parkin stressed the urgency of using available technologies rather than waiting for future innovations. “One of the key things about the climate crisis is we need to act urgently with the technology we have on the shelf today,” he said. “We can tackle climate change, we can solve it, with a relatively small proportion of GDP and with the technology we have today, if we just got out there and built it.”

The project chairman framed the issue as a choice between decarbonizing existing UK industries or shutting them down and importing products from overseas. “Our view is we should decarbonise and preserve the UK’s industry rather than deindustrialise,” he stated.

While expressing sympathy for those opposed to the development, Parkin highlighted the broader challenge of building essential infrastructure in the UK. “The challenge the UK faces is we need infrastructure, we need roads, we need railways, we need power stations. They all have to go somewhere and if all of that was subject to local democracy, nothing would ever get built.”

Parkin encouraged residents to engage with the formal planning process, noting that a public examination will follow the submission of the planning application. The planning inspector will ultimately determine “whether the national interest outweighs the local disruption.”

Peak Cluster plans to spend the next few months developing more detailed plans, conducting environmental surveys, and preparing to present updated proposals to the public in late 2026 or early 2027.