Circular Opportunities in Scotland’s Energy Sector
As we move away from traditional sources of energy such as oil and gas and transition toward a low carbon, renewable energy future, the amount of material required in the associated infrastructure will require careful management as valuable assets for Scotland.
The circular economy’s role in the energy transition and the security of critical raw materials
The energy transition requires careful management of materials embedded within the existing infrastructure, which can be considered as valuable assets for Scotland, this is where circular economy approaches come into play – where the value of existing products and materials is maximised at their highest possible level. Scotland has a significant stock of critical raw materials within our existing infrastructures and, by prioritising circular approaches, we can unlock these assets to gain economic resilience.
Our vision is to drive down the environmental impact of Scotland’s energy transition through sector wide adoption of circular practice. Maximising the value of existing infrastructure, through capturing and reusing secondary products and materials, enabling full life-cycle thinking, and increasing Scotland’s long-term resilience.
Reducing demand for new materials and keeping them in circulation through reuse, remanufacturing and recycling does not only make economic sense, but it also improves energy security and reduces reliance on importing materials again, which in many cases have been originally exported as waste because there is a lack of material reprocessing happening within Scotland/UK. (Source: Green Alliance Report)
To meet increasing renewable energy demands in Scotland, up to 241Mt of total materials could be required in Scotland by 2050. This is equivalent to at least 12% more materials each year by 2050 than were directly consumed in Scotland in 2018; and potentially 40% more per year up to 2030.
We cannot rely on meeting the vast increasing material demand for the energy transition on virgin resources, which are often imported. Over the years we have developed and collaborated on a number of reports to understand what possible opportunities are available to Scotland’s energy sector.
Mapping Material Demand in Scotland’s Energy Infrastructure
This report estimates the amount of material Scotland has locked up in existing energy assets and will need to build the energy infrastructure required to transition the country’s energy sector to meet its Net Zero ambitions by 2045. Concrete and steel account for more than 85% of this demand, as well as the need for scarce materials, such as lithium-cobalt oxide and copper.
Scotland’s Ports:
By embedding circular practices into their operations, Scottish ports can reduce environmental impact, unlock new economic value, and build resilience for the future.
Scotland’s Ports: Circular Economy Practices Survey builds upon the findings of Scotland’s Ports: A Future Vision. The insights gathered through this survey provide a clearer picture of current progress and readiness across the sector, relating to current facilities, capacity, skills, and knowledge. The data gathered helps inform how Zero Waste Scotland and its partners begin in exploring what support may look like to Scottish ports in adopting circular economy practices within their current operations.
Scotland’s Ports: A Future Vision report published in 2023 considers the role Scottish ports can play in achieving a circular economy for Scotland. It highlights opportunities for ports to act as hubs providing space and logistics for offshore energy facilities and identifies ways Scottish ports can embed more circularity in their business practices. The report underlines the key role that ports can play in facilitating decommissioning of oil and gas infrastructure, particularly in enabling more circular solutions, including remanufacturing.
Steel Reprocessing
Steel is a strategically important material within the Scottish economy and is embodied within its stocks of buildings, infrastructure, and many different products. As a highly recyclable material, steel has the potential to achieve high levels of circularity, and there is an active, global market for steel scrap. As a high-performance material (e.g., durable and strong), steel is expected to be in high demand to contribute to the building of renewables capacity as part of the energy transition.
Carbon emissions scenarios for recycling Scotland's steel scrap published in 2026 seeks to understand the potential climate change impacts associated with a range of scenarios for how Scotland’s scrap steel could be recycled. The study provides a comparative analysis of a set of hypothetical scenarios in which a new electric arc furnace (EAF) facility is constructed in a mature and growing market. The results show that the impact of steel produced from scrap from one location varies according to where the scrap is transported to, how it is transported and how the EAF plant is powered.
Circular Steel in Scotland report published in 2023 considers the landscape and opportunities for steel scrap generation in Scotland and its subsequent treatment, and to explore what opportunities there may be for increasing the circularity of the steel within Scotland. The research identifies and maps the different actors within the steel recycling value chain, with a large network of steel processors consolidating, sorting, and fragmentising steel scrap within Scotland, before export for recycling.
Delivering a Circular Economy at Hagshaw Energy Cluster Annual Report
The Delivering a Circular Economy at Hagshaw Energy Cluster Annual Report focuses on the strategic importance of the Hagshaw Energy Cluster in advancing renewable energy and circular economy practices. Situated on the border of East Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire, the cluster is poised to drive economic growth through wind turbine reuse, refurbishment, and remanufacturing, potentially contributing £1.6 billion to the UK economy by 2035.
Meanwhile, the Hagshaw Cluster and the Circular Economy Research Report explores opportunities to enhance local communities by integrating circular economy principles into wind farm developments, ensuring long-term sustainability and community benefit.
Kishorn: Final Port of Call. Circular opportunities and challenges when decommissioning the "Northern Producer"
This report presents the findings of a case study research project on the dismantling of an oil and gas platform in Scotland known as the "Northern Producer," highlighting lessons learned for implementing circular economy practices in future platforms. The decommissioning of one of over 100 North Sea oil and gas topsides, moving toward cessation of production by the early 2030s, has been a monumental undertaking. Kishorn Port Authority, (KPA) working with Liberty Industrial, as principal contractor, along with critical third parties including subcontractors, regulators and the local community have demonstrated the art of the possible.