IOM3 responds to inquiry on the forthcoming Industrial Strategy
The response focuses on the importance of a resilient and sustainable materials cycle to achieving green growth across sectors.
Earlier this year, the Business and Trade Committee launched an inquiry into the government’s upcoming Industrial Strategy, focused on the potential to deliver an enabling environment for industry to thrive, while avoiding trade-offs for sustainability, resilience and inclusion.
The inquiry was based on the Industrial Strategy Green Paper, released in November last year, which outlines the government’s vision for driving growth and productivity across eight priority sectors. These sectors are advanced manufacturing; clean energy industries; creative industries; defence; digital and technologies; financial services; life sciences; and professional and business services. The full Industrial Strategy, including priority subsectors, is due to be launched this month.
The IOM3 response to the inquiry highlighted the importance of materials, minerals and mining across priority sectors, including advanced manufacturing, clean energy, defence and digital. As the foundation of the real economy, underpinning virtually all products on our markets, materials should be considered a cornerstone of industrial planning. The submission argued that to achieve the aims of the Industrial Strategy, a coordinated and strategic approach to the materials cycle is required. In particular, a supply chain analysis should be carried out to help identify crucial material inputs to priority sectors and reveal likely gaps, overlaps and interdependencies. Some material sectors may also warrant and require their own sector plans given their contribution to the objectives of the Strategy.
Moreover, the submission outlined the necessity of transitioning to a circular and low carbon economic model. Investment in circularity in the materials sector is essential to increasing efficiencies, maintaining secure access to the resources we need and reducing the environmental intensity of industrial expansion. Moreover, the decarbonisation of energy intensive materials sectors is crucial to tackling environmental offshoring and the associated loss of employment and industry. In line with the aims of the Industry Strategy, the government must introduce a clear policy framework to enable greater sustainability in materials sectors, including mobilising investment in green infrastructure and skills.
Last week, the Business and Trade Committee published their report on the Industrial Strategy, based on the findings of the inquiry. The report referenced IOM3 input on the importance of resilient supply chains in an increasingly risky global economic landscape. Moreover, many of the Committee’s messages echoed those forwarded by IOM3, including on the need for government intervention to ensure a smooth process of industrial decarbonisation, enable the scale-up and commercialisation of new startups domestically, address skills gaps in the green economy, and establish a stable policy framework to incentivise sustainable and inclusive growth.
You can read the Committee’s report on their webpage.
You can read the full IOM3 response below.
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