Nitrogen use efficiency in Scotland: annual report 2025

Future opportunities for improving nitrogen use efficiency in Scotland

In parallel to a programme of ongoing technical development and monitoring of the SNBS, the Scottish Government will also continue to explore opportunities to integrate new evidence provided by the SNBS into wider policy frameworks and structures, including the draft Climate Change Plan which is due to be published later this year.

Food Production: Agriculture

The next Climate Change Plan will set out policies and proposals up to 2040 on how the agriculture sector will continue to play its part in meeting our ambitious net zero national target by 2045, including by reducing nitrogen emissions and improving nitrogen use efficiency.

Food Production: Aquaculture

Our Vision for Sustainable Aquaculture (July 2023) includes outcomes related to climate change with an ambition to see the aquaculture sector play its part in Scotland achieving Net-Zero emissions by 2045, transitioning to a zero waste and circular economy and improving nitrogen use efficiency by reducing waste discharge, capturing more waste and exploring more opportunities for best use.

Transport

Among the most significant transport-related action which will continue to play an important role in reducing nitrogen use is the Vehicle Emissions Trading Scheme (VETS). Following a public consultation on proposed amendment to VETS between 24 December 2024 and 18 February 2025 led by the UK Government, a four-nation consultation response was published in April 2025, with amendments to update VETS to follow. The proposed long term policy framework to replace the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 strategy will also make a significant contribution to further action on nitrogen.

Scottish Forestry funds projects that remove HGV timber lorries from the roads and move timber movements onto ships. In addition, Scottish Forestry is currently supporting a trial of two fully electric HGVs for timber haulage which reduce carbon and nitrogen emissions. The aim of this trial is to explore the practical benefits and challenges of moving from diesel to electric motors.

Humans and settlements (including waste management)

By reducing demand for new products and virgin materials and driving down the amount of material disposed of via landfill and energy from waste, a range of negative pollution impacts, including nitrogen, on biodiversity, air, bodies of water, and soils can be avoided. The 2030 Circular Economy and Waste Route Map’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Report found that there was clear potential to reduce nitrogen pollution in Scotland via delivery of Route Map measures, for example as a result of a reduction in traffic congestion, reducing food waste and landfill leachate.

The Route Map has outlined the new direction of travel for food waste reduction work to 2030. It includes two priority actions: to develop with stakeholders effective options to implement mandatory public reporting for food waste and surplus by businesses, and develop an intervention plan to guide long-term work on household food waste reduction behaviour change. We will inform future action as we learn more through our work with stakeholders on mandatory reporting, testing interventions for households and from research recommendations. Future commitments will complement the Good Food Nation (Scotland) Act 2022, where all policy decisions regarding food will help make Scotland a Good Food Nation.

As well as key steps to drive more sustainable resource use and to cut waste, the Route Map also set out further steps to 2030 to minimise environmental and climate impacts from materials that cannot be avoided, reused, or recycled.

Priority actions underway or planned from the Route Map include the development of a Residual Waste Plan to ensure the best environmental outcome for unavoidable and unrecyclable waste and set strategic direction for management of residual waste to 2045, and facilitation of the development of a Sector-Led Plan to minimise the carbon impacts of the Energy from Waste Sector. Through these Plans it will be important to consider nitrogen-based emissions (for example nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia (NH3) emissions).^[6]

The Scottish Government has also commenced a process to co-design a new household recycling Code of Practice with local authorities and other waste sector stakeholders. The new Code will aim to increase recycling and reuse rates, divert materials from residual waste, and deliver better, more consistent services across Scotland. A priority will be to ensure that improved recycling services reduce the emissions associated with the waste sector and service design will include assessments of the impact on emissions.

Other actions in recycling and waste management include consultation (published in March 2025) on the current approach to the rural exemption for food waste recycling and whether that should continue in its current form, be amended or be discontinued; the approach to textile recycling, including whether to make kerbside collection of textiles by local authorities a mandatory service or increase textile reuse and recycling through other means.

Building on the forthcoming December 2025 ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill, consideration is also being giving to extending the ban to include non-municipal biodegradable (and other) wastes. A call for evidence was launched in March 2025.

Forests, woodlands and terrestrial semi-natural ecosystems

Scottish Forestry is keeping under review the scope for potential policies within this subject area.