Climate Change Committee's (CCC) annual progress report 2022 recommendations: SG response

1. Introduction

The Scottish Government welcomes the Climate Change Committee’s December 2022 Report on Scotland’s progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The Scottish Government remains committed to our Net Zero ambition by 2045 in a manner that is fair and just for all of Scotland and the recommendations provided are an important step in achieving this.

Since the publication of the Committee's report, we have made significant key steps that will drive delivery to achieve our Net Zero ambitions. This has included furthering our work under the Vision for Agriculture to ensure Scotland will become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. This has included publishing the route map for agriculture and a draft list of measures. Likewise, in April 2023 a new policy prospectus was released committing to delivery of up to 110,000 hectares of restored peatland by 2026. We are also working with COSLA to finalise our 20% reduction in car kilometre Route Map and have commissioned research on equitable options for car demand management, including pricing, which we will publish in the coming months; this will help people to live healthier, fairer and more sustainable lives by choosing alternatives ways of accessing goods, services, amenities and social connections.

In response to this Report, the Scottish Government has accepted or partially accepted 98 of the 99 recommendations provided with the last being entirely reserved and therefore entirely a matter for the UK Government. Others are partly reserved. We support and will press for the full and active cooperation with the UK Government called for in these recommendations.

The following response discussing each CCC recommendation should be read alongside the statutory Climate Change Plan monitoring reports laid in the Scottish Parliament on 30 May 2023 which offer an assessment of Scotland’s emission reduction targets against various indicators.

The Scottish Government will lay a draft of Scotland’s next full iteration of its Climate Change Plan in November 2023 and the recommendations provided within this CCC Report will form a vital element in its development.