Statistics on Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions published today.

There are two measures of greenhouse gases presented in this release:

1. Source Emissions

A net measure of the actual emissions and removals of greenhouse gases in Scotland.  Includes international aviation and shipping.

This measure can be used for UK and international comparisons.

• 40.6 MtCO2e in 2022
• Down 50.1% from 1990
• Down 0.1% from 2021

 Emissions For Reporting Against Targets

The Committee for Climate Change (CCC) recommended a new method of reporting emissions for the purposes of monitoring performance against targets for the June 2020, and future, publications. This is known as the GHG Account and the calculation is detailed in section C of the statistics release.e 

• Down 50.0% from baseline period

On this adjusted basis, the GHG account reduced by 50.0 per cent between the baseline period and 2022.  The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 specifies a target reduction of 53.8 per cent reduction over the same period.

Therefore the interim target for 2022 has not been met.

Background

 The full statistical publication is available at:  https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-greenhouse-gas-statistics-2022/

These greenhouse gas emissions statistics for Scotland include emissions from international aviation and shipping by default. On this basis net greenhouse gas emissions have reduced by 50.1 per cent between 1990 and 2022. On a comparable basis, emissions in England fell by 49.0 per cent, followed by Wales (36.5 per cent reduction) and Northern Ireland (25.9 per cent reduction).

Figures have been revised since last year’s release to incorporate methodological improvements and new data.

MtCO₂e refers to million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.  This is a consistent measure of assessing the contribution of greenhouse gases to global warming.

The Baseline Period for measuring progress against targets uses 1990 for carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide and 1995 for hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, sulphur hexafluoride and nitrogen trifluoride

The data on Greenhouse Gas Emissions used in this release have been compiled for all Nations of the UK by a consortium of independent contractors.  Further information on the National Atmospheric Emissions Inventory can be found at http://naei.defra.gov.uk/about/

Official statistics are produced by professionally independent statistical staff – more information on the standards of official statistics in Scotland can be accessed at: Statistics and research - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)