Low Carbon Scotland - meeting our emissions reduction targets 2013-2027: second report

2. Part 1: RPP2 and the Statutory Greenhouse Gas Emissions Targets

2.1 Background to RPP2

2.1.1 The RPP2 demonstrates how Scotland can reduce its GHG emissions and meet its climate change targets each year from 2013 to 2027. It builds on the work undertaken and presented in the first 2011 Report on Policies and Proposals - Low Carbon Scotland: Meeting the Emissions Reduction Targets 2010-2022 ^[1] ( RPP1) - which set out the Scottish Government's approach to meeting its statutory annual GHG emissions targets from 2010 to 2022. RPP2 provides both an update to RPP1 for the period 2013 to 2022 and for the first time sets out a path for meeting the 2023 to 2027 annual targets. This fulfils the requirements of both Sections 35 and 36 of the Act.

2.2 Scotland's Emissions Targets

2.2.1 The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 creates a statutory framework for GHG emissions reductions in Scotland by setting an interim target of at least a 42 per cent reduction for 2020, and at least an 80 per cent reduction target for 2050 against a 1990/1995 baseline. ^[2]

2.2.2 The Committee on Climate Change ( CCC) advised the Scottish Government on the level of emission reduction targets which included a minimum saving of 3% per annum over the 2023-27 period to put Scotland on a path to an emissions reduction of around 60% in 2030 relative to 1990 levels. ^[3] Table 1 below provides the annual emissions targets for Scotland. Achievement of Scotland's annual targets is measured against the level of the Net Scottish Emissions Account ( NSEA). This is undertaken annually with the most recent 2013 publication presenting the 2011 emissions data against Scotland's annual target. ^[4]

Table 1: Annual Scottish Emissions Targets, 2010 - 2027 (ktCO ₂e)