Like many industries, renewable energy relies on a steady supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) to build and maintain core components. The UK relies on imports for minerals such as silicon and lithium, which are especially important. This leaves the industry, and country, open to supply chain risks, and even potentially negative impacts on other communities.
One way to reduce this impact is to reprocess and reuse the CRMs we have in the country. This would not only reduce risk but could be worth hundreds of millions of pounds to the UK economy. Together with the Green Alliance, we have signed an open letter to the UK government calling for a clear strategy for CRMs.
Other signatories include the British Electrochemical and Allied Manufacturers’ Association (BEAMA), the Chartered Institute of Waste Management, Good Energy, and more.
You can read the full letter below.
Dear Prime Minister,
As businesses, trade associations and professional bodies, we fully support the government’s efforts to lead the world on clean energy, and its dedication to tackling climate change, including by building a Clean Power Alliance. As the UK promotes the Alliance at COP29 and at the G20 summit, we are writing to emphasise the need for a more robust UK strategy on critical raw materials as part of these efforts.
The UK imports almost all the critical raw materials it needs to develop clean energy and, as such, is almost entirely dependent on potentially volatile supply chains with a range of potential risks, including to communities and indigenous peoples. But the country could reduce this dependence and risk to businesses and the wider economy by reusing, remanufacturing and recycling these materials domestically. Previous administrations failed to capitalise on these opportunities to keep materials in circulation at their highest value once they enter the UK market.
We support an ambitious strategy that would develop a circular economy for critical raw materials to protect the UK from supply chain risks, invigorate the economy and address the environmental and social challenges that can be associated with these materials in global supply chains.
We also believe the government should make access to responsibly mined critical raw materials an international priority. Especially in this time of rising global instability, tackling climate change will be impossible if countries cannot access these resources. Ensuring fair access to them should be a crucial part of diplomacy around clean energy and a key aim of the Clean Power Alliance. We would like to see the UK champion circularity and material reduction to ensure all countries can access the supplies they need.
Yours faithfully,
Ethical Power
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