Climate Change Plan: monitoring report 2025

1. Introduction

This is the fifth annual monitoring progress report on the Climate Change Plan update (CCPu) which updated the 2018 Climate Change Plan (CCP) and was finalised in March 2021. The report is a statutory requirement set out in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009.

The monitoring framework for climate change plans includes sector-by-sector reports on progress and the inclusion of information on environmentally and socially sustainable jobs and matters relevant to a just transition. In the most recent Climate Change Plan update, Scotland set out over 200 ambitious policies and proposals, which this report will monitor progress against. As highlighted in the following sector reports, many of these policies and proposals have since been further developed via delivery plans and have paved the way for the following achievements across Scotland in the last year:

• We have delivered an 84% increase in woodland creation from 2022/23, to 15.040 hectares in 2023-24. This included 7,700 hectares of native woodland;
• In the 2024 Programme for Government (PfG), we committed to restoring over 10,000 hectares of peatland in 2024-25 and our ambition is to restore at least 12,000 hectares in 2025-26;
• We updated the Agricultural Reform Route Map in summer 2024, when requirements for 2025 were published. The route map sets out the changes recipients of current farm payments will be expected to make from 2025 and sets out the process for changing to a new agricultural future support framework from 2026; and
• We have published a draft Transport Just Transition Plan for consultation, in February 2025, making sure that no one is left behind as our country transitions to net zero and adapts to a changing climate, through measures that promote healthier lifestyles, improve access to transport, or support the natural environment.

Climate Change in Scotland

Tackling the climate crisis is one of the First Minister’s four top priorities for Government. We are committed to a just transition to net zero emissions by 2045 – one of the most ambitious targets in the world.

We are making good progress – Scotland’s emissions halved between 1990 and 2022, while our economy grew by 66%. Emissions fell in all of our sectors, outside of International Aviation and Shipping, between 1990 and 2022, and in 2025-26 we are committing £4.9 billion in capital and resource spend for activities that will have a positive impact on delivery of our climate change goals.

Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2024

Alongside working on implementing the policies outlined in the CCPU, which this report updates on, the Scottish Parliament passed the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act in 2024. It amended the 2009 Act and introduced a multi-year ‘Carbon Budget’ framework for target setting to replace linear annual and interim targets, better reflecting the reality of longer-term emissions reductions.

The 2019 Act now requires Ministers to set carbon budgets up to 2045 by secondary legislation after consideration of advice from our independent statutory advisers, the Climate Change Committee (CCC). The Scottish Government will develop appropriate target levels, having regard to the target setting criteria provided in the 2009 Act, which include technological developments and socio-economic impacts. These regulations will be laid in the Scottish Parliament soon, setting out our proposed emissions pathway to 2045.

Upcoming Climate Change Plan (2026 – 2040)

The next Climate Change Plan will outline policies and proposals intended to reduce emissions in Scotland during the period of 2026 - 2040. Emissions reductions during the plan period will be informed by carbon budget levels as set through secondary legislation and agreed by Parliament. The Climate Change Plan will, therefore, be published following agreement of carbon budgets.

The Plan will include a revised Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, which will set out the framework for the assessment of policy and proposal progress included in the upcoming CCP. This framework will replace the existing basis for assessment.

The next Plan will set out the costs and benefits of the policies it contains, as well as setting out how these will affect different sectors of the Scottish economy and the different regions in Scotland as required under section 35 of the 2009 Act. Providing this level of clarity will support long term economic development and investment opportunities in Scotland as we transition to a green economy.

Scottish Ministers will also continue to work with the UK Government who hold key policy levers with which to deliver a net zero future including for energy, aviation and shipping. These must be acted upon, and at pace, if we are to deliver not only Scotland’s climate targets, but the UK’s as well.

Overview

This set of monitoring reports is complementary to both to the CCPu and the most recent Official Statistics on Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and is best read alongside these documents.

Official Statistics on Scottish greenhouse gas emissions determine progress towards national emissions reduction targets and also provide information on total annual emissions at a sectoral level. Statistics are published annually, typically in June, and two years in arrears. For example, the most recent figures, published in 2024, cover emissions during 2022.

While the greenhouse gas statistics are from 2022, the data sets which inform the policy indicators in this report are the most recent available as of May 2025.

The Monitoring Framework for each of the sectors of the CCPu is structured on three levels: greenhouse gas emissions statistics provide the highest level measure of progress at an economy wide and sectoral level; a suite of policy outcome indicators measure the success of policies in achieving the changes that are needed; and a policy tracker monitoring implementation of specific policies and proposals.

Policy Outcome Indicators

The CCP includes key policy outcomes for each sector, defined as a measurable change on the ground resulting from a policy or combination of related policies. The Framework will measure progress towards achieving these with a set of policy outcome indicators. A policy outcome indicator is a specific, objective measure closely aligned to achieving the outcome. It will underpin monitoring of long-term progress towards the outcome but should also be responsive to change in the near term, so that it can be used to evaluate whether the CCP is on track. Specific milestones (or targets) are set, where appropriate, for the level of the indicator to be achieved at a given time.

In the CCPu, the set of outcome indicators from the 2018 CCP were reviewed to ensure that they reflect the updated policy commitments and to improve the quality and clarity of indicators. This led to new outcome indicators being identified, others being revised, and a few being removed where they were no longer appropriate or there were significant issues with robustness. The following figure and table show the overview of progress against all policy outcome indicators across the sectors.

Summary Table 1: Progress against policy outcome indicators

Policy Tracker

The CCPu includes a set of specific policies and proposals for each sector to achieve the policy outcomes. Part C of each policy chapter monitors progress towards implementing policies and developing proposals. This consistently records progress and next steps for policies, and where possible includes implementation indicators for specific policies.

Change to Monitoring Arrangement

References to CCPu sector emission envelopes have been removed, to align with the new carbon budget approach in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 as amended by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2024.