Nitrogen use efficiency in Scotland: annual report 2026

Footnotes

1 The River Basin District Standards Directions 2014, table C4.5 (page38).

2 Gillibrand, P. A., Gubbins, M. J., Greathead, C., Davies, I. M., 2002. Scottish Executive locational guidelines for fish farming: predicted levels of nutrient enhancement and benthic impact. Scottish Fisheries Research Report Number 63 / 2002 Fisheries Research Services, Marine Laboratory, Aberdeen.

3 Gillibrand P.A. (2006) Improving Assimilative Capacity Modelling for Scottish Coastal Waters: II. A Model of Physical Exchange for Open Water Sites. SAMS Marine Physics Report No. 168.

4 SEPA, as Scotland’s independent environmental regulator, set out its enforcement approach to the ban on biodegradable municipal waste going to landfill via a Temporary Regulatory Position Statement (published on 29 October 2025). As a result, relatively small amounts of biodegradable municipal waste are expected to be landfilled in 2026 and 2027 before the Temporary Regulatory Position Statement expires on 31 December 2027.

5 Scottish Government, The First National Good Food Nation Plan (2025).

6 Existing regulations for waste incineration require abatement for NOx and require continuous monitoring with an emission limit value of 150mg/Nm3 (daily average). There is also continuous monitoring for NH3 (ELV of 10mg/ Nm3) for sites which employ SNC or SNCR abatement techniques.

7 Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2023 - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

8 By convention, shares of emissions are assessed against net emissions for a given year, i.e. the net CO₂ equivalent gasses added to the atmosphere in that year. However, it would also be valid to compare against gross emissions, excluding removals of CO₂ from the atmosphere from land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF). On that basis the share of nitrous oxide to gross emissions in 2020 was 5.7 per cent.