Meeting the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 interim target: progress report

Introduction

Section 39 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires that Scottish Ministers must, no later than 31 December 2015, lay before the Scottish Parliament a report on meeting progress towards the Interim Target.

The report must, in particular:

• State the progress that has been made in reducing net Scottish emissions
• Indicate whether this progress is consistent with a reduction over the period 2010-2020 of net Scottish emissions accounts which would allow the interim target and the 2050 target to be met.

The Interim Target

The Interim Target is defined under Section 2(1) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, which states that "the Scottish Ministers must ensure that the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2020 is at least 42% lower than the baseline".

The 2050 target

Section 1(1) of the Act defines the 2050 target as 'the net Scottish emissions account for the year 2050 is at least 80% lower than the baseline'.

The Net Scottish Emissions Account

The Net Scottish Emissions Account ( NSEA) is used for reporting against Scotland's Climate Change Targets. The NSEA for a given year is calculated by taking net Scottish emissions for that year, with an adjustment made to reflect the amount of units to be credited to, and debited from, the NSEA for that year. This adjustment is made as the NSEA is designed to take account of emissions trading through the European Union Emissions Trading System ( EU ETS) as well as through any other purchasing or holding of carbon units.

The Baseline

The Baseline is 1990 for carbon dioxide ( CO ₂), methane ( CH ₄) and nitrous oxide ( N ₂O) and 1995 for hydrofluorocarbons ( HFCs), perfluorocarbons ( PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride ( SF ₆) and nitrogen trifluoride ( NF ₃).

Setting of Annual Targets and the Interim Target and 2050 Target

Section 3(2) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 states that

(2) The target-

(a) for 2010, must be set at an amount that is less than the estimated net Scottish emissions account for 2009;

(b) for each year in the period 2011-2019, must be set at an amount that is consistent with a reduction over that period of net Scottish emissions accounts which would allow the interim target and the 2050 target to be met;

(c) for each year in the period 2020-2050, must be set at an amount that is-

(i) consistent with a reduction over that period of net Scottish emissions accounts which would allow the 2050 target to be met; and

(ii) at least 3% less than the target for the preceding year.