Scotland’s Green Industrial Strategy commits to circular use of resources
Scottish Government plan identifies opportunities to develop circular principles as part of investment into net zero economy
The Scottish Government has released a Green Industrial Strategy, which identifies and outlines opportunities to invest in a net zero economy.
The plan highlights five key sectors where Scotland can build competitive industries and ensure long-term economic growth. The five opportunity areas are:
- Maximising Scotland’s wind economy
- Developing the carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) sector
- Supporting green economy professional and financial services
- Growing the hydrogen sector
- Establishing Scotland as a competitive centre for clean industries
Circularity plans
Central to this strategy is the incorporation of circular economy principles.
In its address on the wind sector, the document highlights the importance of material circularity for wind turbines and components. This involves designing wind turbines for easier disassembly, repair, and recycling to reduce waste and lower the need for raw material extraction.
As Scotland’s onshore wind farms reach the end of their operational life, there is also potential to recycle and remanufacture wind turbine components. The 2023 Onshore Wind Sector Deal committed to deliver at least one specialist blade treatment facility in Scotland by 2030. The government has also committed to exploring the role of policy in driving behavioural change in the circularity of materials.
The strategy also creates a plan for CCUS on both a local and national level. It focuses on using Scotland’s extensive geographical CO2 storage capacity to manage emissions by capturing and reusing CO2 in industrial processes or storing it underground.
Industrial sites including Grangemouth and Mossmoran will produce the initial supply of CO2 for storage in the Acorn Project, which is expected to store at least 5 mega tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030, with an estimated total storage capacity of 240 mega tonnes.
The Scottish Government has pledged to work closely with partners such as Zero Waste Scotland, enterprise agencies, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to support a circular approach to the energy transition.
It intends to address the opportunities and barriers to adopting circular solutions, including the recycling/remanufacturing of wind facilities at the end of their life, ensuring waste management regulations permit circularity, and developing a targeted regime to drive change at the individual asset level.
As part of this effort, the strategy suggests exploring how regulatory frameworks can be adapted to encourage circular practices, such as incentivising the use of refurbished components and ensuring that new infrastructure projects use circular design principles.
