Carbon budget targets advice correspondence: EIR release

Information requested

1. From 1 January 2025 to 4 December 2025, did the Scottish Government receive any advice on how to achieve its carbon budget targets from third parties? This would include climate advisers, third sector groups etc. If so, please specify whom.

2. Please provide any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between Scottish Government officials with a rank of deputy director or higher regarding this advice. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 January 2025 and 4 December 2025 inclusive.

3. Please provide any correspondence (including emails, letters, phone calls, handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages or any other documents) between Scottish Government officials with a rank of deputy director or higher and these “advisors” regarding this advice. Information should include but not be limited to a detailed timeline (with dates) of any contact between these individuals. Please provide this information between the dates of 1 January 2025 and 4 December 2025 inclusive.

Response

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exception at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.

This exception is subject to the ‘public interest test’. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exception. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exception, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.

Question 1

I have included a list of the information you have requested in Annex B.

Question 2

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not hold the information you have requested. Therefore we are refusing your request under the exception at regulation 10(4)(a) confirming that the Scottish Government does not hold this information.

Question 3

I have included copies of the information you have requested in Annex C.

On reviewing materials within the scope of your request, exceptions have been applied in line with the EIRs. The exceptions applied can be found in Annex A.

About FOI

The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at https://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.

EIR 202500496970 - Information released - Annex A, Annex B and Annex C

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