Establishing a Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet

5. Policy context and next steps for the Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet

5.1 Overview

The statutory requirements for the SNBS, as set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as amended by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019, are to quantify nitrogen flows across Scotland’s economy and environment to support a purpose of recording how nitrogen use efficiency contributes to the achieving of Scotland’s national targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The information provided in the initial version of the SNBS dataset and summarised in this report has set out the main uses of nitrogen across the Scottish economy and environment, including the main current sources of nitrous oxide emissions (which is a greenhouse gas). In particular, as set out in Chapter 3, the 8 kt N / yr of nitrous oxide emissions recorded in the SNBS (which are mainly from food production, with secondary contributions from other sectors) account for around 8% of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions (based on 2019 data).

However, as the results in Chapter 3 also make clear, nitrous oxide emissions also only form a relatively small, although certainly very important, part of the wider picture of nitrogen flows in Scotland. The Scottish Government is committed to improving air quality, water quality, nature and biodiversity outcomes, alongside tackling climate change, and recognises that the evidence from the SNBS has wide relevance across a range of policy areas.

5.2 Summary of existing policy frameworks

The Scottish Government has a range of strategies and policy initiatives in place, across sectors of the economy, which can be expected to improve the use of nitrogen and thereby reduce the harms caused by losses into the environment. These measures include;

The Scottish Government’s approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions (including nitrous oxide), across all sectors of the economy and over the period to 2032, is set out in the updated Climate Change Plan^[30]. This includes a range of measures that can be expected to improve the efficiency of nitrogen use within food production, such as increasing uptake of climate mitigation measures by farmers, crofters, land managers and other primary food producers; increasing awareness and knowledge transfer and reduced emissions from nitrogen fertiliser, along with improved storage and use of slurry. The Plan also includes a range of policies to reduce dependence on fossil fuel combustion across sectors (including transport, industry and wider energy use), for example by shifting to electric vehicles, supporting active travel choices and supporting renewable energy technologies, all of which will help reduce nitrous oxide emissions from these sectors. The Plan also includes a range of policies to reduce the environmental impacts of waste management processes and support a transition towards a more circular economy, for example, delivering against our ambitious target to reduce food waste by one third by 2025 (against a 2013 baseline), through the Food Waste Reduction Action Plan, which will reduce nitrogen losses associated with food production and consumption.

Since the publication of the updated Climate Change Plan a number of further actions with relevance to improving nitrogen use have also been set out. A £51 million National Test Programme for agriculture has been announced which will support our farmers and crofters to learn how their work impacts on climate and nature and to help us understand how sustainable farming can be supported and rewarded in future. All farmers will be both encouraged and supported to take forward carbon audits and/or nutrient management plans and we will be considering how sustainable farming can be supported and rewarded in future, working with a focus group of farmers and crofters. This builds on a range of existing support, including grants and advice through the Farm Advisory Service which provides bespoke advice to farmers, crofters and land managers and Farming for a Better Climate which provides practical support to benefit the farm and help reduce our impact on the climate.

In addition, amendments have been made to the Water Environment (Controlled Activities) (Scotland) Regulations 2011. These include improving controls on the storage of slurry and digestate to reduce leakage, and more targeted spreading to maximise the nutrient benefit and reduce emissions.

In terms of air quality pollutants (including ammonia and NO₂), the Scottish Government in July 2021 published the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 (CAFS 2)^[31] strategy, which sets out the policy framework for further air quality improvements over the period 2021-2026 to protect human health and the environment, and to fulfil legal responsibilities. It is recognised that NO₂ emissions from transport and combustion more generally can have a significant impact on human health, with high concentrations present close to busy roads. CAFS 2 contains a wide range of actions across a number of policy areas which will contribute to reductions in nitrogen emissions. Among the many transport related actions which will play an important role is the introduction of Low Emission Zones that set minimum emission standards for vehicles entering the four cities of Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee. The latest Euro 6 (VI) technologies to reduce NO_x emissions work predominantly through Selective Catalytic Reuptake in the exhaust system, that injects an ammonia based solution to reduce NO_x to N2.. CAFS 2 also includes several actions intended to reduce nitrogen emissions from agricultural activities, with a particular focus on ammonia.

Woodland creation and management in Scotland are underpinned by the internationally recognised principles of Sustainable Forest Management – as defined in The UK Forestry Standard (UKFS^[32]). The UKFS is the technical standard for forestry in Scotland and sets out the legal and good practice requirements to be followed, and through detailed guidelines it gives considerable safeguards to protect the environment, aspects of which have relevance to the nitrogen cycle:

• With regard to water protection in acid sensitive catchments, UKFS requires that where new planting or replanting of existing woodland is proposed within the catchments of water bodies at risk of acidification, an assessment of the contribution of forestry to acidification and the recovery process should be carried out; details of the assessment procedure should be agreed with the water regulatory authority.
• The UKFS also requires that forest soil fertility levels should be maintained to safeguard the soil’s character and productive potential. To achieve this, one important aspect is to ensure the removal of forest products from the site, including non-timber products, does not deplete site fertility or soil carbon over the long term and maintains the site potential.

5.3 Next steps for the Scottish Nitrogen Balance Sheet

This initial version of the SNBS is only the start of a journey, with the full expectation that the evidence base and its applications will continue to develop and evolve. The immediate next step (following December 2021) will be the scrutiny process in the Scottish Parliament of the draft regulations to formally establish the SNBS in law, which have been laid at the same time as publication of the present report. There is a statutory deadline for this establishment process to have concluded by 23 March 2022.

Based on the proposals set out by the Scottish Government in the draft regulations, the SNBS would be subject to annual review and updating (starting from 2023). Should this approach be agreed by the Parliament, each such round of review would provide an opportunity to incorporate more recent and/or updated data (where this has become available) into the SNBS and also to continually improve the technical methods and output formats.

Regular updating of the SNBS dataset would also allow for tracking over time of the associated estimates of economy-wide NUE. This would, in turn, enable Scotland to monitor improvements and efficiency gains in nitrogen use, which will mainly manifest themselves in the reduction of the harms associated with losses to the environment (both of greenhouse gases and other pollutants).

In parallel to such a programme of ongoing technical development and monitoring of the SNBS, the Scottish Government will also continue to explore opportunities to integrate the new evidence provided by the SNBS into wider policy frameworks and structures. For example, we have committed in the monitoring framework for the updated Climate Change Plan (which is reported on each May) to exploring the development of a policy outcome indicator for the agriculture sector that draws from the new information on nitrogen use efficiency available through the SNBS. We will also consider actions that can improve nitrogen use efficiency as part of the agriculture National Test Programme. One of the actions contained in the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 Strategy is to ensure that the new evidence base from the SNBS is used to inform future policy making around air quality.

In conclusion, the SNBS provides a new, cross-cutting overview of nitrogen flows across all sectors of the Scottish economy and environment. Its ongoing future development and monitoring will help support a range of Scottish Government policies - both existing and under development – aimed at maximising the benefits associated with nitrogen use, whilst minimising losses to the environment.