UK Emissions Trading Scheme: Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA)

1. Purpose

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 introduced a requirement for Scottish public authorities to undertake an Island Communities Impact Assessment (ICIA) to determine the impacts that policies, strategies, or services which, in the authority’s opinion, are likely to have an effect on an island community which are significantly different from the effect on other communities (including other island communities) in the area in which the authority exercises its functions. This duty is often referred to as ‘Island Proofing’.

The Scottish Government has, therefore, produced a full ICIA covering changes to the aviation and maritime sectors under the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (UK ETS), as described in the Government Response^[1] to the “Developing the UK ETS” consultation.^[2]

This full ICIA is structured following the steps set out in the Scottish Government's ICIA guidance;^[3]

• Step one – Develop a clear understanding of the objectives.
• Step two – Gather data and identify stakeholders.
• Step three – Consultation.
• Step four – Assessment.
• Step five – Preparing the ICIA.
• Step six – Making adjustments.

The Scottish Government will update this ICIA with any further information and analysis as required.