Net Zero sourcing reports: EIR release

Information requested

1. Since 2007, have any reports been compiled that anticipate or measure where exactly reductions in net carbon emissions to reach targets will or have come from?

2. Please provide copies of any such reports.

Response

On an initial search of documents, many potentially relevant documents were found. As a result, we contacted you for clarification. You informed us that you were interested in “information regarding strategy around Net Zero/emissions reductions targets. Particularly, anything accounting specifically ‘where’ (i.e. industries, sectors, activities etc) emissions reductions will be achieved and on what schedules.”

This clarification has enabled us to narrow the search results down substantially.

We have interpreted your request to mean reports compiled for or by the Scottish Government at the economy wide level as that is how Scotland’s national targets are calculated and monitored.

The Scottish Government compiles Climate Change Plans (CCP) as well as annual reports on emissions reductions targets and, more recently, progress against our climate policy in the form of monitoring reports.

The first CCP was published on 21 March 2011 as per the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. Annex B of this paper sets out the emissions pathway for each of the Sectors defined in the CCP.

The second CCP, published on 27 June 2013 has similar, albeit more detailed, emissions projections in Technical Annex Part 3.

This trend continues through the CCPs to the most recent Climate Change Plan update (CCPu), which updated the 2018-2032 Climate Change Plan to take in to account revised emissions reductions targets, including a world leading (at the time) 75% reduction by 2030 and net zero by 2045.

This should allow you to see how the Scottish Government’s plans for hitting future targets have evolved.

Our progress to these targets have also been measured via annual reporting against the Greenhouse Gas Inventory and also more recently via statutory monitoring reports. These reports are already published and can be found at www.gov.scot/publications. For ease, I have included a document with the links to relevant reports as part of this response. If you are unable to access the links or website then please contact me again and I will send you paper copies.

Consultants have forecasted progress of policies within the most recent CCPu. I enclose a copy of this, and any other relevant documents.

An exception under regulation 11(2) of the EIRs (personal information) applies to some of the information requested because it is personal data of a third party and disclosing it would contravene the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and in section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. This exception is not subject to the 'public interest test', so we are not required to consider if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception.

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.

EIR 202300380865 - Information released - Annex

File type

334 page PDF

File size

4.6 MB