Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity
Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity
Explore the Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity.
Energy Infrastructure_Roadmap to Circularity.pdf
Roadmap to circularity
With growing demand for materials – including critical raw materials needed for the energy transition – pressure on supply is increasing. This exposes Scotland to supply chain risks and materials security challenges, while also contributing to environmentally damaging extraction, production and consumption.
Scaling up the circular economy is one way to support economic, supply chain and environmental resilience. Companies involved in operating energy assets, as well as those across their supply chains, are already making significant progress in adopting circular economy practices.
Establishing a vision to circularity
Following publication of the Scottish Government’s Circular Economy Strategy – which identified priority sectors including energy infrastructure, the built environment, textiles, the food system, and transport.
Zero Waste Scotland is leading the development of Roadmaps for energy infrastructure, the built environment, textiles and the bioeconomy. Developed in partnership with industry, these roadmaps are a cornerstone of the Strategy. They take an innovative approach in the application of systems thinking to the circular economy, setting out a five-year horizon for a series of interventions which unlock increased circularity in these sectors.
Interventions identified within the Roadmaps are the product of extensive co-design with industry after assessing the key barriers and opportunities, critical path for success and ensuring a clear, shared vision. They will help deliver on the Scottish Government’s cross-policy ambitions for the circular economy, led and delivered by ambitious key industry players with support from Zero Waste Scotland.
Leadership for each Roadmap is provided by a Mission Board, a collective of senior representatives across the private, public and third sectors, providing cross-sectoral insight and support.
Systems mapping across priority sectors
Unlocking change at this scale relies on influencing all parts of the economy that shape products and services within these sectors. The Roadmap has been informed by extensive systems mapping, carried out with stakeholders across the sector to understand key interdependencies, barriers and opportunities.
Zero Waste Scotland led this work through engagement with over 100 businesses and organisations spanning the public, private, third, finance, and insurance sectors. A process of co-ownership, partnership, and collaboration has been central to building a shared vision for change.
The Roadmap draws on systems mapping, visioning, evidence reviews, and landscape analysis to identify, test, and agree a set of meaningful and ambitious interventions. By harnessing collective expertise, sharing risks and opportunities, and applying a systems-based approach, it establishes a credible and coordinated pathway to deliver transformational change.
Circular Economy Interventions
The circular economy interventions are the product of extensive co-design with industry after assessing the key barriers and opportunities, critical path for success and ensuring a clear, shared vision. They will help deliver on the Scottish Government’s cross-policy ambitions for the circular economy, led and delivered by ambitious key industry players with support from Zero Waste Scotland.
The interventions collectively aim to:
- Address the devastating impacts from climate change and Scotland’s unsustainably high resource consumption;
- Slowing the flow of materials to retain their value within the Scottish economy for longer through demand reduction, remanufacturing, reuse, repair, reprocessing, and recycling across all parts of the economy;
- Generating compelling evidence for activity will grow our economy, benefit our communities, and support business resilience and sustainability.
While Zero Waste Scotland is leading in the production of the Roadmap, it will be for industry to lead on the individual interventions. Industry and government collaboration will be organised through a Mission Board. This governing body will implement a mission-oriented approach, including setting bold, ambitious and measurable goals.
The interventions below set out the key actions needed to deliver this roadmap.
Intervention 1: Mission Board
Establish a Mission Board to lead delivery of this roadmap’s mission to create a circular energy infrastructure sector in Scotland. This will have cross sector ownership to address all of the priority, interconnected factors identified in the systems map. Members will be expected to champion the mission, support the implementation and delivery of proposed interventions, and work collaboratively with the wider sector to drive delivery.
Mission Board members
The Mission Board is Chaired by Professor Karen Turner, Professor and Director of the Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde Centre for Energy Policy. Members include:
- Rhona MacDonald, Senior Sustainability Advisor, British Ports Association
- Robbie McGregor, Business Development - Scotland, British Standards Institute (BSI)
- Joe Pacitti, Managing Director, CeeD Scotland (Centre for Engineering, Education and Development)
- Sam Long, Chief Executive, Decomm Mission
- Scottish Enterprise
- Carolyn Vannan, Energy Industry & Waste Policy Lead, Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
- Elaine Ellis, Skills Planning Manager - Construction and Net Zero, Skills Development Scotland (SDS)
- Tara Schmidt, Executive Director, Transition Finance Scotland (TFS)
- Lorraine Wood, Head of Sectors, Zero Waste Scotland
Intervention 2: Metrics and Evaluation
Develop understanding of and measure best practice adoption of circular economy practices across the energy infrastructure sector. The sector will build an evidence base that demonstrates the impact of circular practices across the supply chain for sharing and replication. Appropriate learning points will identify and propose mitigations for challenges and opportunities of implementing circular economy practices.
Intervention 3: Circularity in Clean Heat
Design and integrate circular economy principles and practices into existing strategic policy such as the Heat in Buildings Strategy and Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy (LHEES). Existing policy does not specify the inclusion of circular economy practices when delivering our clean heat transition, but future policy should look to address this matter.
Intervention 4: Material Reuse Hub
Develop a national plan for hub infrastructure to enable the reuse of materials and equipment decommissioned from energy infrastructure assets. This will build on knowledge acquired through innovative projects such as CirCoFin and Collabor8 Loop to develop a national plan for hub infrastructure.
Intervention 5: Data and Digital Tools
Leverage data and digital tools, for example Digital Product Passports, to enable the reuse of high value components from energy infrastructure assets. This intervention has applicability across multiple technologies. Two industries, however, will provide the initial focus: offshore and onshore wind, and oil and gas assets.
Intervention 6: Public Powers
Deploy public powers to actively shape delivery of the energy infrastructure sector’s circular transition. This intervention aims to better integrate circularity into the planning process for energy infrastructure development, building on existing planning regulatory conditions and practices.
Intervention 7: Skills and Training
Develop scenarios to allow for the forecasting of the skills and training requirements from the energy infrastructure sector’s circular transition and integrate these into national skills planning delivery. This intervention will utilise knowledge from national bodies on specific technologies to enhance the prominence and visibility of circular economy practices in decommissioning and material management skills planning.
Intervention 8: Finance and Insurance
Co-design guidance on the financing and insurance of energy infrastructure assets adopting circular economy practices. The perception of, and potential for, real increased financial and reputational risks is often cited as a barrier to the adoption of circular economy practices across the energy sector.
Intervention 9: Communications
Deliver a sustained communications campaign, normalising the embedding of circular economy practices within energy infrastructure. This would include a planned sequence of communications and interactions that uses a compelling narrative to increase awareness of the opportunities for adoption of circular practices.
Next Steps
Development of the Roadmaps is just one step; cross-economy ownership and delivery bring them to life.
Detailed actions plans, building on and prioritising the interventions laid out in this Roadmap are being developed by the Mission Board and being taken forward in 2026.
The commitment to amend and update the intervention plans on a regular basis underscores the collective commitment, readiness, and momentum that is gathering to make Scotland a leader in circularity and innovation.
Downloads
Access the full suite of energy infrastructure Roadmap documents below.
Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity
The Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity combines expertise in systems analysis and circularity with industry insight and technical experience to set out a five-year horizon of interventions that unlock opportunities and increase circularity across priority sectors.
Energy Infrastructure_Roadmap to Circularity_0.pdf
Equality Impact Assessment
This Equalities Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the publication of the Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity.
Equality Impact Assessment_Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity.pdf
Island Communities Impact Assessment
This Island Communities Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the publication of the Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity. For full information on Island Communities Impact Assessments please see guidance on the Scottish Government website.
Island Communities Impact Assessment_Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity.pdf
Consumer Duty Impact Assessment
This Consumer Duty Impact Assessment has been prepared to accompany the publication of the Energy Infrastructure Roadmap to Circularity.