Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy: progress report
This sets out the policy framework for air quality in Scotland to 2026 and includes a comprehensive list of actions across ten policy areas. This fourth annual report summarises progress on actions since the last report in June 2024.
1. Foreword
Air pollution affects everyone, impacting our health and our ecosystem. Our vision is for Scotland to have the cleanest air in Europe. With some of the most stringent air quality legislation Scotland’s air quality already compares well with the rest of the UK and the EU, but we are determined to go further to protect our health and our environment.
Over the past 30-40 years we have seen a significant and continuous improvement in air quality across Scotland, driven by tighter controls on emissions, particularly in the transport and industry sectors. This year Scotland is again meeting all air quality targets at every automatic site in the Scottish monitoring network, after first achieving this in 2022. Delivering this has only been possible with the support from partner organisations and the people of Scotland.
It is ten years since we published our first air quality strategy in Scotland, Cleaner Air for Scotland – The Road to a Healthier Future. Over this time we have:
- introduced Low Emission Zones (LEZs) in our four largest cities in May 2022 (enforced in Glasgow in June 2023 followed by Dundee in May 2024 and Edinburgh and Aberdeen in June 2024);
- in 2018 started a “bus only” LEZ in Glasgow which was responsible for the biggest change in air pollution in the zone;
- introduced more stringent PM2.5 objectives than any other country in Europe
- put in place a national PM2.5 monitoring network;
- collaborated with SEPA and local authorities to update and strengthen the Local Air Quality Management regime;
- worked to ensure a joined-up approach to improve air quality across a range of areas (such as health, planning, agriculture), in particular improving consideration of air quality in the planning system through a dedicated policy in the National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4); and
- ensured that air quality is a key consideration in the updated Prevention of Environmental Pollution from Agricultural Activities (PEPFAA) code.
The next phase of work, delivering the remaining 13 actions in our Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy, will set us in a good place for creating the new air quality framework for Scotland.
Together we can continue to deliver improvements to Scotland’s air quality.
Gillian Martin MSP
Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Energy