Between 2023 and 2024, IEMA’s Circular Economy and Climate Change & Energy policy teams worked with Dr Anne Velenturf, Senior Researcher in Circular Economy at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, to run a series of webinars looking at the challenges and opportunities associated with developing circular renewables.
The aim of the programme was to explore the emerging subject of circular renewables, build a community of interest across industry, policy, civic sector and research, and help raise the profile and importance of embedding circularity into our renewable energy infrastructure.
The series brought together the collective expertise of academics, standards bodies, businesses, civic organisations and policy makers working at the cutting edge of innovative circular solutions for renewables.
We would like to thank all our session chairs and speakers for sharing their specialist knowledge and insights in this open forum space, and all of the session attendees for their thoughtful questions.
The knowledge and insights exchanged throughout the series will form the basis for future IEMA and University of Leeds collaborative research and policy advocacy work in the sector, and ultimately, it is hoped, will aid policymakers and business in developing a long-term strategy for circular renewables development and deployment in the UK.
For further information about this project please contact:
Dr Anne Velenturf: A.Velenturf@leeds.ac.uk
Chloë Fiddy: policy@iema.net
In September 2023, IEMA and the University of Leeds kicked off a webinar series on “Circular Renewables” with a view to grow a community of researchers, innovators, companies, policy makers and others who are interested in embedding circular economy solutions into renewable industries such as wind, solar and electric vehicles. During 2023 and 2024, more than 600 people took part in the live webinars, with many more people revisiting the episodes in their own time.
The series generated an understanding of the current state of the art where policy and industry action can be taken, and identified gaps in the knowledge base for further research, development and innovation. Three area of key insights could be summarised:
First, speakers displayed a high diversity in perspectives in what circular economy is, but were unanimous in emphasising that it has to go beyond recycling. Circular strategies that were highlighted were design, for example to ease disassembly, reduce the number of different materials in components, and extend product life. Moreover, measures to reduce energy demand across the economy were proposed, to limit the demand for materials to build renewable energy infrastructure. Finally, various opportunities were identified to slow and close loops between renewable technologies to enhance component reuse and recycle (critical) materials.
A second area of key insights underlined the high uncertainty in material flow forecasts. While mountains of waste were predicted, flows towards recycling have been smaller than expected for the outstanding reason that renewable infrastructure is being reused and refurbished at far higher rates than anticipated. While circular economy solutions were generally presented with strong business cases, uncertainties in material flows hinder actionable investments.
The third area of key insights focused on enablers, proposing standards and regulations to improve data collection on material volumes and qualities. This will provide a better evidence base to enable investment and policy decisions. There can be stark differences between the economic viability of circular renewables investments across countries, where the critical mass of materials can vary by a factor 2-3 for largely unknown policy / market reasons. A lack of investment risks continued downcycling of materials rather than higher value recycling. Investment into end-of-use facilities has to be in parallel with investment into manufacturing, for there to be markets for the off-take of recovered materials. Policy has to take a whole system approach to bring the various enabling conditions for circular renewables together at the right time, such as access to land, ports, investment and skilled people. Closer collaboration to align circular economy solutions along the supply chain is also necessary.
Concluding the series with a discussion on key priorities emphasised the importance of collaboration to coordinate efforts among researchers, innovators, policymakers, and industry players to advance circular economy in renewables. Proactive policy measures are key to creating conducive environments for circular practices and drive sustainable resource management. Moving forward, priorities for research, development and innovation highlight the importance of developing high value material recovery solutions, material substitution to reduce dependency on critical resources, and to carry out material flow assessments to inform policy and investment decisions.
The recently-elected (at the time of writing) Labour government has committed to delivering a national transition to renewable energy by 2030.
The previous government had published the British Energy Security Strategy 2022 which set out an ambition for installed capacity of 50GW of offshore wind by 2030 and up to 70GW of solar power by 2035. To set this in context, this required an increase in capacity of around 10 times for offshore wind and around 14 times for solar. This will not be the end of the challenge - capacity will need to continue increasing at a similar pace beyond 2035 if the UK is to meet its net zero emissions target.
As well as switching to renewable energy, the total capacity of supply needs to increase: modelling by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) suggests that demand for electricity in the UK will double by 2050 as energy sources used by homes and transport are electrified. The CCC calculates that the share of electricity provided by renewables will have to go from the current level of 25%, up to 80%.
The volume of renewable energy technologies needed to meet the government targets, from wind turbines and solar panels to electric vehicles and battery storage, will require a wide range of minerals and metals from supply chains worldwide.
The International Energy Association (IEA) estimates that by 2040, total worldwide mineral demand will increase by two to four times the current levels, outstripping the rate at which new primary and secondary sources are currently being developed.
Zero Waste Scotland recently mapped the material demand in Scotland’s energy infrastructure. It found that more than 85% of this demand will be the concrete and steel required to meet Scotland’s net zero ambitions by 2045.
It is clear from evidence and research that the pressure on resources needed for renewable energy technology and infrastructure is set to grow exponentially for the UK. Most of the increase in infrastructure has been planned with a linear model of ‘take, make, waste’ in mind, however, it is essential that the vast volumes of minerals and materials used in components are not turned into waste at the end of their first lifespans.
The urgency attached to the transition should not overshadow the importance of integrating circular models into all aspects of our renewable energy infrastructure. This will support net zero ambitions, reduce the demand from geo-politically volatile supply chains, keep valuable materials in use for longer and help reduce the environmental impacts of extracting raw materials.
This followed IEMA’s call for the UK government to develop a circular renewables strategy.
This opening session gave an introduction to the emerging subject of circular renewables.
Chair: Adam Batchelor, IEMA
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This webinar looked at the urgency of proactive supply chain development to achieve better circularity of materials in renewable energy infrastructure.
Chair: Izzi Monk Policy Adviser for critical minerals and the circular economy at the Royal Society of Chemistry
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This session looked at the design stage of the renewable energy infrastructure from the perspectives of planning for reusability or recycling and for longer lifespans.
Chair: Lorna Bennet Project Engineer, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult
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This session gave a real insight into the current state of renewables recycling and what needs to happen to ensure renewables infrastructure can be recycled at the end of use.
Chair: Deryth Wittek Head of Clean Growth & Infrastructure, UK Department for Business and Trade, Germany
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This session explored the opportunities for remanufacturing renewable energy infrastructure.
Chair: Sara Halliday Sustainability and ESG Manager, ASD Ltd
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This final session discussed the actions and policies needed at key intervention points to embed circular economy in renewable industries.
Chair: Dr Anne Velenturf, Senior Researcher in Circular Economy, University of Leeds
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