Reducing greenhouse gas emissions - proposals and policies: report

Introduction

On 16 December 2020, the Scottish Government published an update to the 2018 Climate Change Plan. This update sets out the Scottish Government's pathway to meeting, over the period to 2032, the increased ambition of the targets under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (as amended by the Climate Change (Emissions Reductions Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019). It is also a key strategic document on our green recovery from COVID-19. The document was finalised on 24 March 2021 after a period of Parliamentary scrutiny.

On 15 June 2021, the report on the outcome of the 2019 annual emissions reduction target was laid in the Scottish Parliament in line with the requirements of section 33 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”). Using the reporting basis for assessing progress to statutory targets, the new Official Statistics show that Scotland’s emissions were 51.5% lower than the 1990 baseline during 2019. The statutory annual target for that year of a 55.0% reduction was therefore missed, by 2.7 Megatonnes of CO₂ equivalent (MtCO2e).

Section 36 of the 2009 Act requires that whenever an annual emissions reduction target is not met, the Scottish Ministers must prepare a report setting out additional proposals and policies to compensate in future years for the excess emissions. The present report discharges this duty in relation to the 2019 target^[1], by setting out a number of proposals and policies which have been developed since the updated Climate Change Plan was finalised, and therefore supplement its policy package. These policies and proposals represent additional abatement sufficient to make up the excess emissions of 2.7 MtCO2e over the period to 2032.