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 our draft climate change plan 2026-2040 in November 2025, which is open for public consultation until 29 January 2026. We will analyse every response to the consultation. Following this we will finalise the plan in due course. The plan 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.
The plan 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 draft 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 draft plan:
- equality impact assessment
- island communities impact assessment
- Fairer Scotland Duty assessment
- business regulatory impact assessment
- strategic environmental assessment
- initial children’s rights consideration
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 provide 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.
Our response to their latest progress report on reducing emissions was published in September 2024.
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 we have an independent body, the Just Transition Commission (JTC), to advise and scrutinise the way we are delivering on this.
Achieving net zero by 2045 means transformation for the way we live, work and do business. This creates opportunities as well as challenges. As we make the transition, the Scottish Government is determined that our country will seize those opportunities and meet those challenges in a way that is fair and just.
When we talk about a just transition, it 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, no worker, business or community is left behind.
These are ambitious aims, and we know that achieving them will require careful strategic planning. Scotland’s Just Transition Commission has emphasised the importance of producing long term plans, which can be developed and refined, as we make our way towards 2045.
Our response to the early work of the Just Transition Commission set out a National Just Transition planning framework and committed to developing plans for our key sectors and regions. We began with our draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan.
Other draft sectoral plans are following:
- land use and agriculture
- transport
- built environment
- construction
These plans will provide greater certainty for businesses and communities on what the journey to net zero means in practice, supporting investment decisions in net zero opportunities.
All our just transition planning activity must contribute towards achieving our set of National Just Transition Outcomes, outlined in the National Just Transition Planning Framework.
Our Just Transition Fund (JTF) is a £500 million ten-year commitment that will support projects in the North East and Moray which contribute towards the region’s transition to net zero.
The Fund was announced in recognition of the particular need to diversify the regional economy away from carbon-intensive industries and to capitalise on the opportunities, including jobs and prosperity, that the transition to net zero will bring. The Fund has allocated £75 million to date, supporting projects and communities across the North East and Moray to create jobs, support innovation, and secure the highly skilled workforce of the future.
Meeting our ambition for a net zero, 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.
We supported this engagement through establishing an independent Citizens’ Assembly on climate change (December 2021) and continue to do so via initiatives such as the Climate Engagement Fund. Alongside the Climate Change Plan update we also published a public engagement strategy for climate change (September 2021). This marks a new chapter in our people-centred approach to climate change policy.
Read more on Just Transition.