The transition to net zero is often seen as a challenge that primarily involves shifting to renewable energy sources. While a green energy transition is crucial, the way much of our national energy and transport infrastructure is currently manufactured and maintained is, in fact, adding to the problem.
Estimates suggest that over the next decade around 500 million tonnes of raw materials will be extracted from the earth to support high-integrity sectors such as energy, precision engineering, and transport. The cost? Nearly a gigatonne of carbon emissions - plus devastating impacts on biodiversity, pollution, and other critical planetary boundaries.
Nearly 45 per cent of global CO2 emissions come from what we make and use, with 10 per cent attributed directly to these sectors. A staggering 70 per cent of emissions are locked in during raw material extraction and processing, making it critical to extend product life, maximise value, and preserve resources.
From linear to circular
We need to stop relying on raw material extraction and shift from a linear economy, where products are made, used, and discarded, to a circular economy that keeps materials in use for as long as possible. Yet despite growing awareness, we’re heading in the wrong direction. Global circularity has dropped from 9 per cent to just 7 per cent. While 5 per cent of that comes from recycling, remanufacturing still accounts for less than 2 per cent of global material flows.
This is a significant missed opportunity. While recycling often results in degraded material quality, and reuse extends life without improving performance, remanufacturing delivers high-integrity components that meet, or exceed, their original specifications. It combines environmental benefits with the assurance required in safety-critical sectors like energy, aerospace and transport.
The potential impact of circular manufacturing is huge. By embedding circular principles from the outset, designing for repairability, refurbishment, remanufacture and disassembly, we can dramatically extend product life, reduce reliance on virgin materials, and cut emissions by up to 80 per cent. At the same time, it allows businesses to create new value at end-of-life, driving innovation across supply chains and opening the door to more sustainable business models.
The economic and resilience case
Remanufacturing and circular economy models aren’t just climate solutions, they're also powerful enablers of economic growth and industrial resilience. Businesses can achieve significant cost savings over new production, reduce lead times, and shield themselves from volatile supply chains and critical material shortages. In today’s economic and geopolitical landscape, this is becoming one of the most urgent reasons to act.
As global demand surges and access to critical raw materials tightens, the ability to retain and recover value from existing products is no longer a 'nice to have,' it's a strategic necessity. Circularity helps to reduce dependency on virgin material extraction, secure domestic supply chains, and strengthen national resilience, especially in sectors that underpin our energy, mobility and security systems.
A thriving circular manufacturing ecosystem could create thousands of skilled jobs, support regional economic regeneration, and unlock new revenue models through servitisation, leasing and asset performance management. It would also give the UK greater control over its material flows, making our economy more robust and future-proof.
At NMIS, this agenda is especially important for the high-integrity sectors we support, where materials are scarce, safety is critical, and resilience is non-negotiable. That’s why we’re working across sectors to break down silos and deliver the tools, standards, cost models, design frameworks, lifecycle analysis and training needed to help businesses scale circular solutions at pace – with impact.
The Remake Value Retention Centre – driving research and innovation
The new £10 million ReMake Value Retention Centre (RVRC) is also tackling these challenges head-on, bringing together NMIS and the Universities of Strathclyde, Exeter, and Sheffield to drive circular manufacturing innovation, particularly within high-integrity transport and energy sectors. We’re working together to connect industry action through technology, policy, skills, research, and circular business models.
However, it’s not enough to develop solutions based on what we know today; we must push the boundaries to develop new knowledge and advance technology to maximise the economic, environmental, and social opportunities.
Intelligent product lifecycles
Going forward, we need to think about manufacturing differently and build intelligence along the product lifecycle, from design through to end of use. By embedding digital tools and data into every step, we can enable more efficient decisions about repair, reuse, and recovery while capturing untapped value.
One catalyst for this shift is the EU Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation, which will require digital product passports (DPPs) for specific products. These will offer full transparency on a product’s environmental footprint, from raw material extraction to end-of-life, and open opportunities to monetise lifecycle data.
DPPs are an area that NMIS has been developing for several years. While many EU organisations are looking at textiles and battery passports, we have created a data model suitable for remanufacturing in high-integrity transport and energy sectors. We want to share this knowledge so businesses can capitalise on the opportunities that DPPs can bring.
A system level shift
Achieving net zero and creating a circular economy requires system-level change and a fundamental shift in how we produce and consume. We’re working with partners across academia and industry to break down sector silos, creating frameworks to help businesses adopt sustainable practices at scale.
Remanufacturing, repair, and refurbishment slash waste, cut emissions, and build a stronger, more sustainable economy. On Global Remanufacturing Day, it’s time to make circular manufacturing the norm - not the exception.
Stephen Fitzpatrick, Director of the Digital Factory and ReMake Value Retention Centre at the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS).
