As part of NECCUS’ role – representing the views of its members to key stakeholders – we held roundtable discussions with key Scottish Supply Chain organisations in both Aberdeen and Glasgow in November 2024, alongside Scottish Enterprise.
The main aim of these sessions was to provide a ‘voice’ for the Supply Chain, enabling NECCUS to share their concerns and issues in supporting industrial decarbonisation (and the energy transition) in Scotland.
In-depth discussions with different supply chain representatives in each location drew out a number of barriers and challenges common to supply chain organisations whatever the ‘vertical’ – hydrogen, carbon capture, etc., ranging from access to funding for apprenticeships to a lack of clarity from government and project developers on timescales and requirements. These conversations provided an opportunity to articulate a coherent and focussed narrative which captured the views and experiences of this key resource (almost thirty organisations were in attendance over the two days) with decades of expertise and innovation across a wide range of industrial sectors.
Given this unique Scottish resource, it is imperative to build on these strengths by supporting the supply chain to invest in new opportunities, so that Scotland can deliver a robust and sustainable industrial transformation alongside a just transition.
The panel discuss Supply Chain issues at the DecarbScotland 25 Conference
Some specific comments form the roundtables:
“Supply Chain companies are ready; the market is not”
“These are not ‘green’ skills, they are traditional skills that can be applied to new applications in industry.”
The full report can be downloaded below.
Recommendations
Some key recommendations are highlighted below:
| Supply chain readiness – Scale up and 50% local content | |
| 1 | A review by UK and Scottish governments of how local content is defined; how this is defined in other countries; how the economic value to the UK is assessed; how the carbon footprint is factored into this, and can obligations on projects be strengthened |
| 2 | Ensure that there is clarity from government and large projects on their timescales and keep the supply chain informed (Removed ‘support’ – discussed with Gordon, it was an error) |
| Skills and training – Availability and scope | |
| 1 | Use industrial decarbonisation and the energy transition as a learning and future careers opportunity in schools at all levels |
| 2 | Provide more support to SMEs to access apprenticeships and make the overall process more transparent and accessible |
| What support is required from key stakeholders | |
| 1 | Funding bodies to provide more diverse funding to enable the development of projects through pilot feasibility and front-end engineering design (FEED) |
| 2 | Provide a procurement framework for energy transition projects that focusses on more than just the lowest price including local content provisions |
The report was formally launched at Decarb Scotland 2025 – NECCUS’ Annual Conference held in Edinburgh in March 2025 – and included presentations from the main contributors. This was followed by a panel session chaired by Kathryn Cameron from Scottish Enterprise.
Next Steps
The full recommendations will be shared with a number of key stakeholders including Scottish and UK Governments, Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, local authorities and further education colleges, and feedback sought. NECCUS will monitor progress against the recommendations and facilitate reviews with responsible parties.