Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

Scotland’s climate change plan

We publish a statutory strategic delivery plan for meeting our emissions reduction targets at least every 5 years. We published the climate change plan 2026 to 2040 in March 2026, following a period of public consultation and engagement on the draft plan from November 2025. An independent company undertook analysis of the consultation and engagement responses and compiled a consultation analysis report. We also received advice from our independent advisors, the Climate Change Committee and reports from Scottish Parliament Committees, including the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee. We considered the advice received on the draft climate change plan, in order to finalise the plan.

The climate change plan 2026 to 2040 outlines the specific actions required to reduce emissions up to 2040, so we can continue to reduce our emissions and meet our first three carbon budget targets.

It includes over 150 actions across sectors such as transport, heat in buildings and agriculture, key to achieving Scotland’s carbon budgets, while supporting people to make the changes required. Actions include:

consumer incentives to encourage electric vehicle uptake
measures to support the electrification of industry to cut emissions
increasing woodland creation and peatland restoration every year until the end of the decade

Scotland's transition to net zero will continue to grow our economy and create jobs for the benefit of our communities now and generations to come.

We published accessible versions of the climate change plan including:

an easy read version (English and Gaelic)
a children and young people’s version (English and Gaelic)

We also published the following impact assessments to support the plan:

Scottish carbon budgets

To help ensure delivery of the net zero by 2045 target, Scotland’s climate change legislation also includes carbon budget target framework, requiring that every year between 2026 and 2045 is covered by a budget.

The legislation requires that ministers take into account the most up-to-date advice from the Climate Change Committee (“CCC”) before finalising their preparation of regulations to set carbon budget levels. Following publication of the Climate Change Committee’s Scotland’s Carbon Budgets advice on 21 May 2025, the Scottish Government set Scotland’s carbon budgets at the levels recommended in this advice. This legislation came into force on 10 October 2025.

The carbon budgets cover a period of five years and set a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted in Scotland. They are expressed as an average percentage of the baseline emissions level as defined in the 2009 Act. The carbon budgets for each period between 2026 and 2045 are in the table below.

Scottish carbon budget period	Scottish carbon budget (average % of Baseline)	Equivalent MtCO2e
2026 to 2030	43	174.6430
2031 to 2035	31	125.9054
2036 to 2040	20	81.2293
2041 to 2045	6	24.3688

The net zero emissions target year is 2045.

Reporting on progress to targets

The first, second, third, fourth and fifth annual statutory monitoring reports provided information on progress against the 2020 Climate Change Plan update, as required by the 2019 Act, and were published in May each year from 2021 to 2025.

An annual report on emissions reduction sets out the percentage by which the net Scottish emissions account for the year is lower than the baseline. We published the latest report for 2023 in June 2025.

We will publish a report on each emissions reduction target following each period covered by a Scottish carbon budget, which will state whether the Scottish carbon budget target arising from that budget has been met.

The UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) also publishes annual assessments of Scotland’s progress in reducing emissions, which are on its website. Read the latest report published in February 2026.

Our response to their latest progress report on reducing emissions was published in March 2026.

You can see a list of advice published by the Climate Change Committee (CCC) in response to requests made by the Scottish Government under section 2C or 2D of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

Carbon assessment of Budget proposals

For each year's annual Scottish Government Budget on finance we publish an accompanying high-level carbon assessment which estimates how government spending plans will impact on emissions. View carbon assessments within the greenhouse gas estimation statistics.

Just Transition

Our climate legislation embeds the principles of a Just Transition, and the Just Transition Commission (JTC), advises on and scrutinises our approach to ensuring a net zero and climate resilient Scotland.

That transition requires significant changes in the the way we live and do business and this creates opportunities as well as challenges. As we make the changes necessary, we are determined that our country will seize those opportunities and meet those challenges in a way that is fair and just.

This means making sure that the costs and benefits of this transformation are distributed fairly. It means using this period of change to address existing inequalities and improve people’s wellbeing, for example, through measures that promote healthier lifestyles. And it means ensuring that, as we work towards net zero, communities, workers and businesses can get the support they need.

These are ambitious aims, and we know that achieving them will require careful strategic planning.

This is vital to providing certainty for businesses and communities on what the journey to net zero means in practice, and to supporting investment decisions in net zero opportunities.

All our just transition planning activity is focussed on the outcomes outlined in the National Just Transition Planning Framework.

As part of this, we are taking specific action to support the communities most affected. A key example is our £500 million Just Transition Fund (JTF) for the North East and Moray, which supports projects and communities across the region to create jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.

Meeting our ambition for a greener, fairer Scotland will only be possible as a shared national endeavour and social engagement is crucial. We are committed to co-designing our plans with those most likely to be negatively impacted. The development of our plans is being informed by the Just Transition Commission, businesses, communities, workers and their trade unions across Scotland.

Information