Environment strategy: global environmental impacts of consumption and production

3. Introduction

The Environment Strategy for Scotland sets out the Scottish Government’s vision for restoring Scotland’s natural environment and playing our full role in tackling the global climate and nature emergencies (Scottish Government, 2020a).

In transitioning towards a net zero, nature positive economy (e.g. see Martino et al., 2023) Scotland will reduce the global impact of its consumption. In so doing an aim is to create opportunities that support ambitions for Scotland’s society, economy and global citizenship.

One of the strategy’s outcomes is that “We are responsible global citizens with a sustainable international footprint”. This report will support the development of a ‘pathway’ for achieving that outcome by gathering evidence on the nature of Scotland’s international environmental impact.

In Scotland, guidelines for the assessment and clearance for environmental impact vary according to the EIA-consenting regime(s) of relevance, categorised as Planning, Energy, Marine licensing, Transport, Agriculture, Land drainage, Forestry, Flood management, Ports and harbours, and Controlled activities. For example, the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) (Scotland) Regulations 2017 provides guidance on the general requirements and principles for preparing an EIA report, when an EIA might be necessary, and the outcomes of EIA reporting (Scottish Government, 2017). These guidelines also specify the factors that might be impacted by planned activities, including population, human health, biodiversity, land, soil, waste, air, climate, material assets, cultural heritage, and landscape (Scottish Government, 2017, page 24). Notably, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, such as carbon emissions, are included in EIA reporting under the impact category ‘climate’ (Scottish Government, 2017, page 56). These headings provide a basis for the reviewing and reporting with respect to the types of environmental impacts in this report.

For this report, a rapid evidence review has been carried out to identify potential environmental impacts outwith Scotland of the consumption and production within Scotland. The review was of scientific papers and technical literature from national public agencies, including those of the European Union. The report summarises findings of the types of key materials identified as being used in the Scottish economy, and the potential environmental impacts that may arise from their sourcing, or of products from Scotland.

3.1 The Environment Strategy for Scotland

The Environment Strategy creates an overarching framework for Scotland’s policies on the environment and climate change. One of its key aims is to support a whole-of-government approach to tackling the climate and nature emergencies. The strategy was placed on a statutory basis by the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021 ('the Continuity Act'), with Section 47 requiring Scottish Ministers to prepare and publish an environmental policy strategy.

The Scottish Government is taking a phased approach to developing the Environment Strategy. Its vision and outcomes were published in 2020, followed by an initial monitoring framework and website for tracking progress towards these outcomes, published in 2021. Progress reports to update the Scottish Parliament were published in March 2022 and 2023. The current and final phase is to develop ‘outcome pathways’, identifying actions and priorities across government for driving progress towards the strategy’s outcomes.

One Earth. One home. One shared future.

By 2045: By restoring nature and ending Scotland’s contribution to climate change, our country is transformed for the better – helping to secure the wellbeing of our people and planet for generations to come.

The strategy’s outcomes^[2] are designed to provide focus for the efforts of the Scottish Government and partners when working to deliver the vision, summarised above.

Three of the outcomes describe the Scottish Government’s ambitions for the environment, focusing on nature, climate change and sustainable resource-use:

• Scotland’s nature is protected and restored with flourishing biodiversity and clean and healthy air, water, seas and soils.
• We play our full role in tackling the global climate emergency and limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C.
• We use and re-use resources wisely and have ended the throw-away culture.

There are established policies and strategies in these areas - the Environment Strategy sets an overall framework for these and explores synergies between them.

The remaining three outcomes describe wider ambitions for Scotland’s economy, society and global citizenship – drawing out connections with wider government policies:

• Our thriving, sustainable economy conserves and grows our natural assets.
• Our healthy environment supports a fairer, healthier, more inclusive society.
• We are responsible global citizens with a sustainable international footprint.

The Environment Strategy recognises that playing Scotland part in tackling the climate and nature emergencies will rely on transformative changes across Scotland’s economy and society, based on a just transition. In turn, this can help to achieve wider goals for the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s people and the resilience of our economy.

This report aims to support the development of the Environment Strategy by providing evidence to help inform the development of a ‘pathway’ for achieving the following outcome:

We are responsible global citizens with a sustainable international footprint.

This outcome focuses on the sustainability of Scotland’s consumption and production, in relation to the international environmental impacts associated with these activities. It is concerned specifically with Scotland’s impact on the natural environment in other countries, on which Scotland relies for raw resources and materials, including biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation and associated loss of ecosystem services.