Offset carbon footprint of ministerial travel: FOI release

Information requested

You asked on how many occasions has the Scottish Government used the services of carbon offset schemes to offset the carbon footprint of ministerial travel in each of the past five years?
How much was spent on such offsetting in each of the past five years?
How many of the offset schemes used were based in (i) Scotland, (ii) the UK and (iii) outside the UK?

Response

The answer to your question is that the Scottish Government does not use carbon offset schemes to offset the carbon footprint of ministerial travel. We do however collect a carbon emissions levy on all business flights which aims to compensate for the carbon that our business travel generates. It raises funds that are put into projects on our estate such as solar panels.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.