Jessica Bradley breaks down 10 key technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.
There is a wide consensus that transitioning to a low-carbon, circular economy is crucial – and that technology is a huge driving force.
With huge advancements in the applications of AI in particular, innovation in digital and physical technologies is helping many industries become more efficient, use fewer resources and produce less waste.
But there are also many challenges facing manufacturers and industries, especially when it comes to scaling up the technological innovations needed for a low-carbon economy.
1. Taking matters offshore
The transition to renewable energy is an integral part of climate change mitigation. The UK Government’s commitment to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 has created room for technological innovations that can improve energy conversion efficiencies, so as to continuously lower reliance on fossil fuels.
Wind energy is a key area of innovation, with the development of floating offshore wind turbines that can be placed in deeper waters than traditional turbines, where stronger and more consistent winds can increase their efficiency.
Another area of innovation is in-stream tidal energy generation, such as turbines on a horizontal axis, which extract energy from moving water rather than air. In 2021, it was announced that tidal stream energy would receive a ringfenced budget of £20 million per year under Contracts for Difference, which are long-term contracts that support low-carbon electricity generation.
However, high costs and limited subsidies mean that this technology is still in its relative infancy, says the London School of Economics, and there is a lack of evidence showing that these turbines can operate for sustained periods without maintenance.
2. Batteries of the future
As demand for renewable energy grows, so does the demand for sustainable energy storage systems, where traditional batteries have limited use, particularly in terms of their energy density and environmental impact. Consequently, battery technology is becoming increasingly critical.
The development of experimental and emerging battery technologies, largely focused on lithium-ion batteries, is growing, as well as research focusing on all-solid-state batteries, which are said to offer higher theoretical energy density and safety.
It was reported in October that scientists at the Institute of Metal Research under the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a new material that greatly reduces interfacial resistance and improves ion transport efficiency in solid-state batteries, which they say are two of the most longstanding challenges hindering the commercialisation of solid-state lithium battery technology for electric vehicles.
Six reports say that researchers from the same institute have found a way to build prototype batteries that ensure they can maintain stable electrode contact without relying on bulky external pressure systems.
3. Out with the grey, in with the green
Since the most common conventional method of hydrogen production relies on fossil fuels, there are growing efforts to replace it with green hydrogen. The UK’s Climate Change Committee forecasts that the UK hydrogen industry will grow rapidly over the next 25 years, while the government has identified it as one of the key pillars to drive a green industrial revolution.
However, green hydrogen made up less than 1% of total global hydrogen production in 2024. While green hydrogen is often hailed as the future of clean energy, certain challenges have hindered widespread adoption.
“Green hydrogen has lots of applications in the industry,” says Alan Ripa, chief executive officer of ACCIONA&PLUG – a joint-venture between Plug Power Inc. and ACCIONA Energía, to develop, operate and maintain green hydrogen projects throughout Spain and Portugal.
Green hydrogen is seen as a key enabler in the transition to a low-carbon circular economy, Ripa says, because of its potential to decarbonise sectors including heavy-duty transportation, steel, cement and chemical refining.
Crucially, green hydrogen can be used as an energy source and energy carrier. In steel production, Ripa says, green hydrogen can replace grey hydrogen, mainly as a reducing agent to replace carbon (usually from coke or coal) in the process of removing oxygen from iron ore. It can also be used as fuel for high-temperature processes, replacing natural gas.
But there’s pressure to produce green hydrogen at a cost industries are willing to pay. This involves being able to transport and distil it, and relies on having access to renewable energy that is cheap and plentiful, Ripa says.
One area that needs improving is the efficiency of the electrolysis process, which separates the hydrogen and oxygen, Ripa says.
“If you’re able to reduce the amount of water and electricity you need to produce one kilo of hydrogen, it will make it more efficient and help to reduce production costs,” he says.
More technologies still need to be developed, Ripa says – and this area is still in the early stages of development.
4. Capturing carbon
There is too much carbon in the atmosphere, and many experts agree that some must be removed to prevent the worst impacts of global warming.
Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) is the main way to reduce CO2 emissions from large industrial sources.
CCUS involves capturing carbon dioxide emissions – mostly from power generation or industrial facilities that use fossil fuels or biomass – and then reusing or storing them. It can be used on-site or compressed and transported to be applied in many ways.
In the UK, there are signs that there is a growing appetite for technological developments that can enable CCUS growth. The government opened a call for evidence in spring on how to best transport captured carbon that is not connected to a pipeline network, and announced £20bn for the early development of CCUS, and tax savings on certain oil and gas assets to be repurposed for CCUS projects.
The government also announced two carbon capture projects in the UK, including a carbon capture-enabled cement plant and one of the world’s first full-scale carbon capture-enabled waste-to-energy facilities.
“There is so much happening globally and in the UK,” says Enrico Andreoli, head of the department of chemical engineering at Swansea University. However, he adds, the cost of CCUS is an ongoing barrier to innovation.
Andreoli is involved in several projects turning captured carbon into useful products, including combining CO2, water and electricity to make ethylene, a building block for plastics.
Another project is Sustain, a project funded through the research council EPSRC, to look into green steel-making approaches.
“The way we’ve used so far releases a large amount of CO2, but there is emerging technology that’s supposed to reduce the amount of CO2 to almost zero,” he says.
But despite technological advancements, the CSS process is innately expensive, Andreoli says.
“Carbon in its most stable form is CO2, which means that if you want to use it for anything, you need to put in a lot of energy. No matter how good the technology is, the laws of nature mean that any new companies have to deal with the same challenges.”
5. Circular economy technology
The transition from a linear to a circular economy is hugely reliant on technology, especially the Internet of Things and AI. In recent years, the emergence of AI-powered sorting systems has revolutionised recycling.
Advanced recycling enables faster and more accurate categorisation of waste by separating materials using sensors, cameras and machine learning algorithms.
This also includes chemical recycling, such as hydrometallurgical techniques that use aqueous solutions to extract metals from electronic waste, and pyrometallurgical recycling, which involves melting and separating metals from electronic waste.
Bioleaching, another emerging technology, extracts metals from electronic waste with the help of bacteria and fungi that naturally dissolve metals.
6. Getting precise
Precision agriculture encompasses technology that helps farmers manage food production more efficiently and sustainably, often using sensors and diagnostic approaches to measure key parameters that trigger changes in crop management.
Researchers at Newcastle University are creating a platform for the farming community that integrates all their research, which they have produced by monitoring diseases and environmental stressors for crops using sensors.
One example is applying fertilisers more precisely, which lowers emissions directly, but also by reducing demand for fertiliser and reducing emissions through the manufacturing process, says Ankush Prashar, reader in digital agriculture at Newcastle University.
The team does this by detecting the colour of the crop using a sensor on the top of the tractor. If it’s greener, less fertiliser will be applied, says David George, reader of precision agronomy at Newcastle University. The pair are looking at the pre-symptomatic stage of disease to intervene earlier in the crop’s lifecycle.
“We’re also looking at a bioacoustics model across arable and livestock platforms,” says George.
This involves training an algorithm to detect different noises in the soil, such as earthworms. And above ground, listening to the wingbeat frequency of insects two metres away.
Another project involves breathalysing cows to see how much methane they’re emitting, and tracking this to where they’re been grazing.
The aim is to feed information into a predictive model combining multiple layers that will provide predictions on the state of a farm for the upcoming year, Prashar says.
They hope to apply learnings to vertical farming systems, and vice versa, to make the most efficient use of energy in vertical farming, says George.
“We’re trying to approach the technology with careful intention,” says George. “It’s about integrative approaches that can benefit farms.”
7. Making smart grids smarter
Early electrical grids were designed to deliver power from large plants to consumers, but they weren’t very efficient or reliable. The modern smart grid network, however, has greater efficiency, resilience and security.
Smart grids largely depend on AI to better manage energy and waste, predict and detect faults, analyse data in real-time and integrate electric vehicles.
However, smart grids also come with a vulnerability to cyberattacks, which requires advanced technologies.
Emerging technologies include Digital Twin models – virtual replicas of power grids that use real-time data to simulate, analyse, and optimise operations – the Internet of Energy and decentralised grid management, researchers say, which can enable real-time simulations, adaptive control and enhanced human–machine collaboration.
8. The AV revolution
Since the UK’s Automated Vehicles (AV) Act received royal assent in May 2024, AVs have been developed and trialled in industrial settings, with a view for them to transfer to full usage on UK roads.
Connected vehicles can generate at least 1,000 data points, and original equipment manufacturers (OEM) are increasingly focusing on software that can improve personalisation, experts say – with a focus on data and AI. As part of this process, OEMs are outsourcing data analysis to influence insights that will support product improvement and driver safety.
But widespread adoption of EVs by consumers and businesses is still a way away, experts say – largely because of uncertainty around solid-state batteries and their counterparts. While lithium-sulphur batteries can offer cost savings and supply chain certainty, experts argue, significant hurdles remain around affordability, efficiency and infrastructure.
9. Water purification
It is predicted that, by 2050, two billion people in 44 countries could experience water scarcity. Desalination is one potential solution to freshwater scarcity, experts say, because it isn’t dependent on river flow or reservoir levels, and it can treat seawater, saline and low-grade surface water.
There are two main methods of desalination: membrane and thermal-based processes. Multi-stage flash is one of the most common thermal distillation methods, but it relies on a lot of non-renewable thermal energy, researchers argue.
Newer technologies, including solar electrochemical distillation, may offer a promising and economically viable alternative, as they use solar energy and electrochemical processes. Experts say it could be used in agriculture and industry, as well as to boost the supply of drinking water.
10. Biotech and synthetic biology
An expert panel gathered by the OECD agree that synthetic biology may be able to contribute to climate change mitigation by engineering crops that grow in harsh conditions.
Another way synthetic biology could help to drive the transition to a more sustainable future is by harnessing engineered microbes as cellular machines to produce bio-based chemicals, such as biodegradable materials, and lab-grown leather and bio-based dyes that don’t require harmful chemicals and thus reduce the environmental footprint of clothing production.