Dr Colin Church, Chief Executive of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining, provides insights into the role of the materials sector in delivering the UK Government’s Plan for Change.
In December 2024, the UK Government published its Plan for Change: Milestones for a mission-led government. Core elements of this plan include making Britain a clean energy superpower and kickstarting growth, with both necessitating a strong and strategic materials supply chain.
Earlier this year, the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining published a report titled ‘Materials-Driven Missions: Delivering the Plan for Change.’ To discuss this in more detail, The Innovation Platform spoke with Chief Executive Dr Colin Church from the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining.
What are the most pressing challenges facing the minerals and materials industries?
Each sector faces unique challenges and opportunities in the current landscape; however, there are a few key issues that the government should address to support a sustainable and resilient materials cycle.
Energy prices:
A key challenge for several materials, minerals and mining industries in the UK is high energy prices. These sectors are often energy-intensive and thus particularly vulnerable to fluctuations in cost. There have been cases, for example, of manufacturers of construction materials closing production during energy price spikes. The UK has among the highest energy costs in Europe, an issue which undermines competitiveness and disincentivises the electrification of materials sectors. For instance, the minerals and materials industries are at a critical juncture, facing a multitude of challenges that threaten their sustainability and competitiveness. From rising energy prices to the urgent need for decarbonisation, the landscape is complex and evolving. As these sectors grapple with issues like carbon leakage and skills shortages, the call for strategic government support and targeted innovation has never been more pressing. This article delves into the most pressing challenges confronting the materials and mining sectors, while exploring the potential for collaboration across industries to foster a more resilient and efficient materials supply chain. With a focus on sustainability and economic viability, it highlights the key actions needed to secure a sustainable future for these foundational industries. Sectors such as ceramics face major barriers to investment in decarbonisation due to uncompetitive electricity costs.
Decarbonisation:
Many of the materials, minerals and mining industries that are crucial to our society are highly energy and resource-intensive. This includes the foundation industries (cement, ceramics, chemicals, glass, metal and paper), which have a large carbon and material footprint. As these are a cornerstone of economic activity in the UK, the government must invest in innovation for decarbonisation across the materials supply chain to support both economic and environmental ambitions.
Carbon leakage:
Many parts of the materials, minerals and mining sectors – especially the foundation industries – are at risk of carbon leakage and environmental offshoring, as they are unable to compete with imports from countries with less stringent environmental regulations. Alongside the support for decarbonisation mentioned above, this means the UK needs to consider additional ways to mitigate this risk, for example, through a strong carbon border adjustment mechanism for imports or by ensuring that exports of waste materials for reprocessing are handled to high environmental standards in the receiving country.
Skills gaps:
Pervasive skills gaps present a challenge across a number of materials, minerals and mining industries, including composites, mining, geology, metallurgy, chemical engineering, and elastomers, to name a few. Many of these sectors face an ageing workforce, exacerbated by low demand from new entrants. Outdated narratives on these industries and a lack of awareness of their role in supporting the transition to net zero contribute to this challenge. Moreover, threats to science and engineering degrees due to a lack of funding, including materials and mining programmes, have severe implications for the future pipeline of workers in these sectors. Skills challenges across materials, minerals and mining sectors create risks for the delivery of vital products to the UK’s economy, not least those needed to meet our climate and environmental targets.
Supply chain resilience:
Virtually all products and services on the UK market depend on upstream inputs of raw and processed materials. Many such vital materials, including critical raw materials and their by-products, are subject to supply risks associated with geopolitical crises, environmental and social governance (ESG) and resource depletion. These vulnerabilities are exacerbated by reliance on linear supply chains, challenges to building domestic capabilities and insufficient government coordination of materials industries.
How can collaboration across different sectors enhance the effectiveness of the materials supply chain?
As the importance of a more circular and coordinated approach to the materials cycle becomes ever clearer, so too does the need for greater collaboration between sectors and industries. To maximise efficiency, sustainability and resilience, there needs to be a cultural shift from industries’ thinking about their material usage in silos to considering their activity as one stage in an interdependent materials cycle. Taking a more collaborative view of materials gives the industry the opportunity to identify synergies and possible systemic risks. Moreover, collaboration presents an opportunity to discover areas of industrial symbiosis, including cases where waste streams from one sector may form a valuable feedstock for another. An example of this can be seen in ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS), which is a by-product of iron and steel making that can be used as an additive to, or replacement for, Portland cement. GGBFS has performance, durability and sustainability benefits for the cement industry, including a substantial reduction in embodied carbon.
What role do you think advanced technologies can play in improving the efficiency and sustainability of the materials sector in the UK?
Technological advancements are having a significant impact on materials, minerals and mining sectors and unlocking new opportunities for sustainability, cost efficiency and productivity. The term ‘materials 4.0’ refers to the evolution of digitally enabled materials industries, including through data analytics, informatics and AI. The potential applications of these technologies range across the full life cycle, from the role of machine learning in raw materials discovery to the use of life-cycle simulation to explore the durability of new materials over time. In addition, digital passports for materials, minerals and mining products will be key to the transition to greater circularity, enabling verification of the source and quality of secondary material products. By reducing risks and streamlining otherwise costly processes, advanced technologies and digitalisation have the potential to drive growth and innovation across the materials lifecycle. However, investment in the development of new applications for these technologies, as well as in upskilling the workforce at a sufficient pace, will be crucial.
Can you elaborate on the modern industrial strategy in relation to materials, mining, and minerals?
Materials, minerals, and mining industries underpin all eight of the priority sectors identified in the modern industrial strategy (IS-8), in particular advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence, digital technologies and life sciences. The role of materials is acknowledged in the strategy, with advanced materials identified as a frontier industry at the leading edge of the advanced manufacturing sector. Moreover, the strategy identifies a list of foundational industries that are crucial to unlocking growth across the IS-8, including steel, critical minerals, composites, materials such as cement and glass, and chemicals. This recognition, alongside the emphasis on decarbonisation, net zero and resource efficiency, will be crucial to the delivery of sustainable and resilient growth over the coming decade. These elements would be even more powerful if they were brought together in a holistic materials strategy for the UK.
A cross-industry, cross-sector national materials strategy is needed to ensure the long-term and resilient growth of materials, minerals and mining sectors and protect capabilities, supply chains and technologies of strategic importance. To meet the aims of the industrial strategy, a comprehensive approach must be taken, building on and expanding the scope of Henry Royce’s National Materials Innovation Strategy and encompassing the full materials lifecycle from raw material extraction and processing to end-of-life management.
How can the UK support materials, minerals, and mining sectors to deliver the ambitious target of 95% low-carbon electricity generation by 2030?
All energy infrastructure and green technologies rely on the sourcing, processing and engineering of materials. For example, wind turbines require huge volumes of steel, as well as cast iron, composites, copper and aluminium, solar panels rely on high-grade glass, plastic and silicon, and grid infrastructure depends on steel for pylons, aluminium, copper, composites and ceramics for power lines and concrete for foundations. The government’s ambition to secure the energy supply with home-grown, clean power is therefore dependent on the coordinated scale-up of materials, minerals and mining industries in the UK.
There is a good understanding within government of the risks associated with dependence on volatile global supply chains for energy infrastructure, and this has translated to a commitment to a domestically sourced clean energy supply. However, this approach has focused on end products and has generally not been extended to the upstream and midstream material inputs required to deliver energy infrastructure. For the UK to achieve a secure energy future, the government must take into account the management of the full materials cycle.
Given the sheer scale of materials involved, fostering greater circularity in energy supply chains will be crucial both in terms of resilience and sustainability. Many of the materials and minerals required to deliver clean energy are already embodied in assets in the UK, including EV batteries, oil and gas rigs and subsea cables. With targeted planning and investment, these resources can be repurposed at the end of their first life to feed into the clean energy infrastructure of the future.
In addition to greater circularity, achieving a resilient supply of clean energy will also require building domestic capabilities in upstream and midstream clean energy supply chains and ensuring diverse and transparent trade routes for imported products.
Can you provide examples from the report of how the mining, minerals, and materials sectors can contribute to achieving economic sovereignty?
In a time of significant global uncertainty, the government has made clear that its ambitions for economic growth cannot be achieved without boosting the UK’s resilience to shocks. These include risks ranging from overseas conflicts and unpredictable trade regimes to global recessions and environmental crises. To maintain economic sovereignty in this challenging global context, the UK must be able to maintain reliable access to the resources and products we need. Materials form the basis of virtually all essential goods in our society, from pharmaceuticals, defence applications and transport infrastructure to household items like food packaging. The secure, responsible and environmentally sensitive management of material inputs is therefore vital to the UK’s economic independence.
Despite this, the UK remains reliant on opaque, linear supply chains for many essential material resources. Oftentimes, supply is heavily concentrated in a small number of exporting countries, heightening potential risks for the UK economy. For example, the production of many critical raw materials, such as lithium and graphite, is dominated by Chinese suppliers.
Several measures can be taken by the government to insulate the UK from risk and deliver sustainable and resilient growth. Firstly, investing in and coordinating greater circularity in the materials cycle can reduce dependence on imports, minimise the impacts of resource depletion and scarcity, and bolster the long-term sustainability of industrial growth in the UK. Moreover, increasing domestic capabilities in materials, minerals, and mining industries can support greater resilience across the full supply chain, as well as maximising the value captured in the UK economy. Finally, as imports of raw and processed materials remain a necessity, it is crucial that the UK work with like-minded international partners to build transparent, diverse and resilient material supply chains.
What is the impact of climate change on the materials sector, and how do you believe the industry should adapt to mitigate these risks?
As with all industries, the extreme weather events associated with climate change present logistical, financial and safety risks to materials, minerals and mining sectors. This risk of adverse events from flooding and high winds to heatwaves and wildfires must be addressed both through a high-level national strategy and on a site-by-site basis. Moreover, UK industries across the materials cycle need to be aware of the risk posed by climate change to their overseas supply chains and the implications this has for resilience. For instance, drought, heat and heavy rain present physical challenges to mining operations, creating potential disruptions to the global supply of critical raw materials that are embodied in so many crucial products on the UK market.
Your report on the Plan for Change includes several next steps on how the materials sector can contribute to the Plan’s success. Could you outline these?
The report highlights that the success of Labour’s programme for government is dependent on the strength of the materials, minerals and mining sectors in the UK. These sectors contribute massively to growth and employment across the country and provide vital feedstocks for products and infrastructure across the full supply chain. However, proactive action is needed from the government to capture the growth potential of these sectors and ensure the responsible management of material flows. IOM3 identifies seven key areas of action to support the development and responsible management of material flows, in line with the aims of the programme for government.
- Conduct comprehensive, cross-economy data collection on the material flows and skills needed to deliver the programme for government.
- Undertake targeted intervention to build domestic supply chain capacity where gaps are identified, including through investment in infrastructure, support for R&D, energy subsidies and increased regulatory clarity.
- Tackle skills shortages in materials sectors, including through funding for relevant degrees, apprenticeships and training programmes.
- Develop and implement a cross-industry, cross-departmental National Materials Strategy to ensure the coordinated, efficient and responsible management of material flows.
- Prioritise the shift towards a resource-efficient and circular economic model and ensure full alignment with the forthcoming Circular Economy Strategy across government policy.
- Ensure energy-intensive materials industries in the UK remain competitive in the transition to net zero, including through the support for decarbonisation and energy subsidies.
- Systemically incorporate questions of materials management and sustainability into government strategies on security, growth and energy.
IOM3 provides reliable, trusted advice to the government to support the transition to a circular, resilient and low-carbon materials cycle. We mobilise the expertise of our 13,000+ members to develop and promote policy insights across areas such as circular economy, net zero, skills, industrial planning and supply chains. The knowledge and experience of materials, minerals and mining professionals help uncover how policies in these areas interact with industry and academia in practice and are thus vital to the successful delivery of the government’s ambitions.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 24th edition of our quarterly publication.
