Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2020

Annex A: Information required for reporting under sections 33 and 34 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Introduction

The following sections summarise, using data from the main sections of this statistics bulletin and other sources, the information required under the requirements of sections 33 and 34 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009. For ease, the information is interspersed with the wording of the requirements themselves.

Under section 33

Subsection 2 requires the report must state—

(a) the emissions reduction target for the target year

The emissions reduction target for 2020 is a 56.0% reduction from the baseline.

(b) whether the emissions reduction target for the target year has been met

The target has been met.

(c) the percentage by which the net Scottish emissions account for the target year is lower than the baseline,

For the purpose of assessing progress to the 2020 target (on the basis of the 1990-2016 inventory), the net Scottish emissions account was 58.7 per cent lower in 2020 than the baseline.

(d) the amount by which the net Scottish emissions account for the target year is lower or higher than the emissions reduction target for that year

The net Scottish emissions account for 2020 was 2.0 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) lower than the target for that year.

(e) the cumulative amount by which the net Scottish emissions accounts are lower or higher than the corresponding emissions reduction targets, calculated by adding each amount by which an account is lower or higher than the corresponding target for each year in the period beginning with 2018 and ending with the target year.

The cumulative amount by which the net Scottish emissions accounts over the period from 2018 to the current target year (2020) was 3.6 MtCO2e higher than the targets for those years.

Subsection 3 requires the report must specify the methods used to determine each figure and amount in subsection 2 in accordance with the most up-to-date advice provided by the relevant body (the UK Committee on Climate Change) on the methods to be used for that purpose:

The figure in 2(c) above has been derived using an identical calculation to that recommended by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in their advice on the future measurement and accounting of emissions against Scotland’s climate change targets^[9]. This calculation is shown below, using the 1990-2016 inventory as the reference inventory, and adjusting for cumulative revisions subsequently introduced in the 1990-2017, 1990-2018, 1990-2019 and 1990-2020 inventories:

Year	Baseline Period (1)	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Inventory data
A. Base Inventory source emissions data (June 2018 data (1990-2016))	75.7	38.6	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
B. June 2019 source emissions data (1990-2017 inventory)	76.3	41.9	40.5	N/A	N/A	N/A
C. June 2020 source emissions data (1990-2018 inventory)	76.3	42.0	41.0	41.6	N/A	N/A
D. June 2021 source emissions data (1990-2019 inventory)	85.1	48.5	47.5	48.9	47.8	N/A
E. June 2022 source emissions data (1990-2020 inventory)	81.6	46.2	45.3	46.5	45.4	40.0
Revisions between inventories (2)
between A and B	0.6	3.3	3.3	3.3	3.3	3.3
between B and C	0.0	0.1	0.5	0.5	0.5	0.5
between C and D	8.8	6.5	6.5	7.3	7.3	7.3
between D and E	-3.5	-2.3	-2.2	-2.4	-2.4	-2.4
Combined revision between successive inventories	5.9	7.6	8.1	8.6	8.7	8.7
GHG Account (latest inventory, less combined revision)	75.7	38.6	37.2	37.8	36.7	31.3
GHG Account figures, expressed as a percentage reduction from the baseline period.	0.0%	-49.0%	-50.9%	-50.0%	-51.5%	-58.7%

1. The Baseline period uses a 1995 base-year for F-Gas emissions, and 1990 for all other greenhouse gases.

2. Where data do not exist for a particular year, revisions are carried over from the previous complete year (see shaded cells)

Under section 34

All of the information under this section is reported on the basis of the most up to date available greenhouse gas inventory methods, i.e. the 1990 – 2020 inventory.

Subsection 1 requires the report must state — (a) in relation to net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases—

(i) the baseline,

The Baseline period uses a 1995 base-year for F-Gas emissions, and 1990 for all other greenhouse gases. In the 1990-2020 inventory the baseline amount of emissions was 81.6 MtCO₂e.

(ii) the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases for the year covered by the report,

On the basis of the 1990-2020 inventory, net Scottish emissions in 2020 were 40.0 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent.

(iii) the percentage by which the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases for the year covered by the report is lower than the baseline,

On the basis of the 1990-2020 inventory, net Scottish emissions in 2020 were 51.0 per cent lower than the baseline^[10].

(iv) the percentage by which the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases for the year covered by the report is lower or higher than the equivalent amount for the immediately preceding year, and

On the basis of the 1990-2020 inventory, net Scottish emissions in 2020 were 12.0 per cent lower than in 2019.

(v) the methods used to determine the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases, together with details of any changes to those methods,

The aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions set out above has been determined from regional disaggregation of the UK Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Full details of the methodology used in the UK Inventory, together with further breakdowns, are provided in the National Inventory Report^[11] submitted annually by the UK Government to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This latest release includes changes to historical data on energy use (mainly gas) in business, residential and public sectors although the most significant revision to the data used in this latest release involves replacement of older, and infrequent, estimates of land use using physical surveys with probabilistic estimates using a range of near up-to-date sources.

(b) in relation to the net Scottish emissions account—

(i) its amount for the year covered by the report,

In 2020, the net Scottish emissions account was 40.0 MtCO₂e.

(ii) the percentage by which the account for the year covered by the report is lower than the baseline,

On the basis of the 1990-2020 inventory, the net Scottish emissions account in 2020 was 51.0 per cent lower than the baseline².

(iii) the percentage by which the account for the year covered by the report is lower or higher than the equivalent account for the immediately preceding year, and

On the basis of the 1990-2020 inventory, the net Scottish emissions account in 2020 was 12.0 per cent lower than in 2019.

(iv) the percentage of any reduction in the account for the year covered by the report, relative to the equivalent account for the immediately preceding year, which is accounted for by reductions in net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases,

All (100%) of the reduction in the net Scottish emissions account between 2019 and 2020 was accounted for by changes in net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases.

(c) the total amount of carbon units that were—

(i) credited to or debited from the net Scottish emissions account for the year covered by the report,

No carbon units were credited or debited to the net Scottish emissions account for 2020.

(ii) purchased by the Scottish Ministers in the year covered by the report, and

No carbon units were purchased by Scottish Ministers in 2020.

(iii) held by the Scottish Ministers immediately after the end of the year covered by the report and which remained available to offset greenhouse gas emissions for other target years,

No carbon units were held by Scottish Ministers immediately after the end of 2020.

(d) for each target year preceding the year covered by the report—

(i) the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases, and

Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Net GHG emissions (MtCO2e)	63.9	56.8	57.0	55.1	51.5	50.8	46.2	45.3	46.5	45.4

(ii) the amount of the net Scottish emissions account *

Year	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
Net Scottish Emissions Account (MtCO2e)	64.4*	61.6*	61.8*	54.1*	48.8*	50.6*	51.4*	53.3*	46.5	45.4

* The figures set out here for the net Scottish emissions account for the years 2010 to 2017 are consistent with the approach used in previous statutory annual target reports and are on the basis of Scottish emissions adjusted for the operation of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS). The Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 has subsequently altered the emissions accounting basis for assessing progress to targets from 2018 onwards, to remove that adjustment. As such, these earlier figures are not directly comparable to those in other columns of the table or other sections of the report.

(e) the fair and safe Scottish emissions budget, and the aggregate amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases for the period from 2010 to the end of the year covered by the report.

The fair and safe Scottish emissions budget for emissions over the period 2010 to 2050^[12] is 1,240 MtCO₂e. The total amount of net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases over the period from 2010 to 2020 is 558.3 MtCO₂e.

Subsection 3 requires that, if the methods used to determine net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases change and that change is such as to require adjustment of an amount for an earlier target year, the report must —

(3)

(a) specify the adjustment required and state the adjusted amount, and (b) explain why the adjustment is required.

The latest greenhouse gas inventory (1990-2020) contains some major revisions to previous estimates of emissions in the Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry category. These revisions arise from a fundamental improvement to the way that land use processes are estimated in the greenhouse gas inventory. Specifically, an infrequently updated survey of land use is now replaced with a number of near-real-time data sources.

Other, less substantial revisions relate to routine revisions to underlying data and modelling used to construct the greenhouse gas inventory which mainly affect gas and solid fuel use in the early part of the time-series.

The combined impact of these changes has resulted in the previously published value for emissions in 2019 being lowered by 2.4 MtCO₂e to the revised level of 45.4 MtCO₂e.

Year	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019
1990-2019 inventory	58.8	59.0	57.4	53.7	53.2	48.5	47.5	48.9	47.8
1990-2020 Inventory	56.8	57.0	55.1	51.5	50.8	46.2	45.3	46.5	45.4
Revision	-2.0	-2.0	-2.3	-2.2	-2.4	-2.3	-2.2	-2.4	-2.4