Scotland’s Circular Economy: Call to action for the infrastructure sector

Overview

As we embark on the climate decade with all eyes on industry taking a leadership role in decarbonising our economies, the circular economy provides a compelling model for reducing emissions and stewarding critical resources. This is particularly the case in Scotland, with its ambitious target to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2045, together with the low carbon agenda set out by the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland.
 
 A policy and regulatory environment is rapidly evolving to foster infrastructure delivery with a new circular economy mindset.  This is a clear call to action for leading Scottish infrastructure projects, where the consumption of energy, materials, and water, together with consideration of end of life use of materials and products, are embedded in their design decisions from the outset.
 
The drive toward a more circular economy is not just borne out of a need to comply with current and emerging legislation, but is driven by a sector wide recognition that the linear economy approach is unsustainable. The environmental stresses it places on our planet from the extraction, processing, and disposal of materials is now evident in the rising global temperature, increasing frequency of extreme weather events, biodiversity loss, rising sea levels, poor air quality, and fundamental pollution issues such as marine plastic.
 
Meeting the major challenge of fully embedding the circular economy within all infrastructure projects will optimise resource use, while bringing cost efficiencies and environmental and social value benefits.
 
Transitioning to a circular economy, represents a major economic and industrial opportunity for Scotland. The Scottish Infrastructure Circular Economy Forum (SICEF) is a facilitator for embedding fully circular infrastructure delivery by 2030, founded by AECOM for key infrastructure organisations to share best practice and collaborate towards achieving this goal. SCIEF’s vision is for a Scottish infrastructure sector where innovation is an intrinsic part of our culture, society, and economy, and our long-term ambition is to boost Scotland’s innovation performance to match the levels of the best performing countries. This will require trust and active co-creation among businesses, governments and civil society as underlying foundations for successful implementation.
 
For further information, please contact Donald Bell at [email protected]