Environment strategy: global environmental impacts of consumption and production
Independent report from the James Hutton Institute on behalf of the Scottish Government on global impacts of consumption and production in Scotland. This research is being used to inform the forthcoming Scottish Government environment strategy.
5. Scotland’s economy: the use of significant materials
In 2019, the value of Scotland’s imports was £23.5 billion, principally from Norway, the USA, China, Germany and the Netherlands (Transport Scotland, 2020). These imports reflect the goods with the highest values, including natural gas, mechanical and electronic equipment, power generating and industrial machinery, petroleum products and materials, and transport equipment.
The Fraser of Allander Institute (2020) report the top four industrial sectors of the Scottish economy by value, in 2019, to be:
i) services (75%);
ii) production (mining and quarrying, manufacturing, electricity and gas supply, and water supply and waste; 18%);
iii) construction (6%);
iv) agriculture, forestry and fishing (1%).
Approximately, 75% of the extraction of the raw materials required for production in Scotland is from out with its borders (i.e., including the rest of the UK). This is estimated as being 60.3 million tonnes (c.50% of Scotland’s total material footprint; Conde et al., 2023). Currently, these materials include all supplies of metal ores and a high proportion of non-metallic minerals and biomass products. Conde et al. (2023) describe these imported materials as having extremely high embodied resources, either due to their nature, such as certain fertilisers which require heavy excavation of rocks and minerals, or due to inefficient production processes employed by trading partners.
SNIFFER undertook a study of the resources which were considered critical to the Scottish economy at that time (SNIFFER, 2011a, b). This was in recognition of risks to the Scottish economy of the importing of materials and components, and the depletion of non-renewable natural resources. From a review of literature over 40 resources were identified as relevant to the Scottish economy. Of those, in consultation with stakeholders, a subset of 12 resources were identified as critical. These were aggregates, cobalt, copper, lithium, palm oil, phosphorus, lead, rare earths, timber and tin. They report the nature of the resource and its use, and the estimated financial value, summarised in Table one.
The review by SNIFFER, and the subset of resources they identified, has been used in this report as a basis for reporting on types of environmental impacts that are associated with key requirements of the Scottish economy. Information on the geographic origins of raw materials imported to Scotland is not readily available. Some materials will be imported directly from source countries (e.g. timber), and others may be used at one or more links in a supply chain as components are produced for use further along the chain. For example, copper is one key material in microprocessors, 60% of which are produced in Taiwan and 90% of those which are most advanced, for subsequent incorporation into electrical goods such as mobile phones and white goods, and then imported to the UK. The steps in the production process can be expected to have some environmental impacts although subject to the regulations extant in the countries or regions within which production takes place for each link in the chain. It is also a key material in equipment for tackling climate change through renewable energy sources, notably photovoltaics (2% of Copper Indium Gallium Selenide; Vijayan et al., 2022) and wind energy.
| Sector | Total Outputs of Products (£-Million)² | Resource | Main Uses |
|---|---|---|---|
| Construction | 19,435 | Aggregates | Civil engineering projects, & developers |
| Timber | House building | ||
| Lead | Roofing, cladding & flashings | ||
| Copper | Plumbing & electrics | ||
| Food & Drink | 7,378 | Palm Oil | Many food products |
| Fish | Direct consumption as food | ||
| Agriculture, fisheries, & forestry | 3,264 | Phosphorus | Fertilisers |
| Fish | Fish feed, primary product produced | ||
| Timber | Primary product produced | ||
| Automative (vehicle production) | 434 | Rare earth metals | Magnets, alloys, rechargeable batteries. Key components in high-tech products |
| Lead | Lead batteries | ||
| Lithium | Electric vehicle batteries | ||
| Cobalt | Rechargeable batteries | ||
| Electronics & IT hardware | 2,008 | Rare earth metals | Mobile phones, computers, & other high-tech products |
| Indium | LCD Screen & touch-tone phones | ||
| Copper | Wiring & circuit boars | ||
| Lithium | Rechargeable batteries | ||
| Tin | Solder (replacement for lead) | ||
| Chemicals | 3,651 | Tin | Tinplate & chemical uses |
| Cobalt | Pigments | ||
| Palm oil | Detergents, cosmetics, & soaps | ||
| Engineering | 8,667 | Tin | Tin plate |
| Rare earth metals | Magnets for wind turbines | ||
| Indium | Solar cells | ||
| Cobalt | High-performance alloys for aero-engine producers | ||
| Copper | Solar cells |
SNIFFER (2011) provide case studies for a selection of sectors extracts from which indicate the types of environmental issues that can arise. A summary of equivalent information, updated for each resource is listed in Appendix 2. This includes updated information about the types of environmental impacts, causes, and supporting references to scientific literature. The topics have been expanded to include other materials which are reflected in the analysis of material flows of iron ore (significant in construction), energy (significant in all sectors), sugar (significant in food and drink), and food and drink in general.
Each of the types of environmental impacts is summarised in Section 6, with links to the sectors or raw materials identified by SNIFFER (2011) or other authors.