Climate change duties: statutory guidance for public bodies

2. Strategic Framework

This chapter outlines Scotland’s strategic framework for climate change, sustainable development and a just transition: the policies and legislation which place these priorities at the heart of government.

Public bodies should understand this strategic framework and ensure that relevant policies, legislation and statutory obligations inform their approach to the climate change duties. The level of relevance will vary by organisation, function and sector.

Public bodies operate within a wider landscape of legislative, policy and regulatory frameworks — refer to Annex A.

2.1 National Performance Framework

The National Performance Framework (NPF) is Scotland’s wellbeing framework and sets a vision for the kind of country we should all aspire to live in. It provides the overarching context for the work of central and local government and the wider public sector. To achieve its aims, the NPF sets out a series of National Outcomes, aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These describe the kind of country Scotland aspires to be and help track progress towards that vision.

Under the Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, public authorities must have regard to the national outcomes, as represented through the NPF, when carrying out functions of a public nature.

Climate change is not a single-issue policy area. Effective action to cut emissions and build resilience enhances progress across all National Outcomes, while inaction or climate impacts can undermine them.

At the time this guidance was written, the NPF was being reformed. The next iteration of the NPF is planned for publication in 2026.

2.2 The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, as amended, is the central legislation of the climate change framework and supports the just transition to a sustainable, resilient, low-carbon economy.

It requires the Scottish Government to take action in relation to both climate change mitigation and adaptation, to develop a public engagement strategy, and allows for the provision of subordinate legislation, if required to take certain actions forward. As outlined in section 1.1, section 44 of the 2009 Act places climate change duties on public bodies to contribute to emission reduction targets (mitigation), to the adaptation programme, and to act in a way that they consider most sustainable.

2.2.1 Mitigation

Statutory reduction targets for Scotland’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were first introduced by the 2009 Act, covering carbon dioxide and other GHGs including methane and nitrous oxide. In direct response to the Paris Agreement, an international treaty adopted under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the original targets were strengthened by the Climate Change (Emission Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019 (‘the 2019 Act’), which amended the 2009 Act to establish the Scottish net zero target of 2045, and introduced annual and interim targets.

The Climate Change (Emission Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2024 (‘the 2024 Act’) adjusted this approach, replacing the annual and interim targets with five-year carbon budgets while 2045 remains the national net zero target. The carbon budgets set limits on the total amount of greenhouse gases (in tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, CO₂e) that Scotland can emit over each five-year period between 2026 and 2045. The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025 quantify the carbon budgets, and under section A3 of the 2009 Act Scottish Ministers have a duty to ensure that each Scottish carbon budget target is met.

The 2009 Act also sets out the just transition principles, as outlined in section 2.2.1.1 below.

All of Scotland’s statutory climate change targets are economy-wide and include all territorial GHG emissions, a share of those from international aviation and shipping, and territorial removals (including from the land use sectors).

Climate Change Plan

Part 3 of the 2009 Act requires Scottish Ministers to produce a Climate Change Plan (CCP) every five years. The CCP is a strategic delivery plan setting out Ministers’ proposals and policies for meeting Scotland’s statutory emissions reduction targets over the plan period.

The CCP covers all key sectors: energy supply, transport, business and industry, buildings (residential and public), waste management, land use, land use change and forestry, and agriculture, and outlines the pathways through which Scotland will meet its statutory national targets and contribute to the United Kingdom’s international climate obligations under agreements such as the Paris Agreement.

Scotland’s approach is aligned with the Paris Agreement, which commits signatories to limit global temperature rise to well below 2°C and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The CCP therefore contributes to delivering Scotland’s fair share of global action under the Paris framework, supporting a just transition to a net zero, climate-resilient economy.

The upcoming CCP (2026–2040) was laid in draft before the Scottish Parliament on 6 November 2025. The draft will be subject to Parliamentary and stakeholder scrutiny before being finalised.

Under the 2009 Act, Scottish Ministers must also publish annual monitoring reports, assessing progress towards implementing the policies and proposals in the Plan and tracking emissions reduction.

2.2.1.1 Just Transition

For the Scottish Government, a just transition means achieving a net zero, climate-resilient Scotland in a way that delivers fairness, tackles inequality, improves wellbeing, and ensures that no one is left behind. It concerns both the outcome, a fairer, greener future and the process, working in partnership with those most affected by the transition.

Scotland has shown leadership in embedding just transition principles within its climate legislation. The 2009 Act requires each Climate Change Plan to:

• explain how proposed policies will affect sectors and regions, including how they are expected to affect employment in those sectors and regions
• set out policies and proposals for supporting workforces, employers and communities in those sectors and regions during the transition.

Ministers must have regard to the just transition principles, those principles are the importance of taking action to reduce net Scottish emissions of greenhouse gases in a way which:

• supports environmentally and socially sustainable jobs
• encourages low-carbon investment and infrastructure
• develops and maintains social consensus through engagement with workers, unions, communities, non-governmental organisations, representatives of business and industry and other such persons as the Scottish Ministers consider appropriate
• creates decent, fair and high-value work without negatively affecting the current workforce and overall economy
• contributes to resource efficient and sustainable economic approaches that help address inequality and poverty.

These principles ensure climate action delivers both environmental progress and social justice.

Just Transition Planning

While the Climate Change Plan provides a roadmap towards net zero over the plan period, Just Transition Plans (JTPs) focus on how that transition is achieved, identifying economic, social and environmental opportunities and managing risks. They aim to give businesses, workers and communities greater certainty about what the move to net zero means in practice.

The National Just Transition Planning Framework (2021) set out the Government’s approach to sectoral, regional and site-specific planning, alongside guidance for others developing their own plans.

The framework groups National Just Transition Outcomes into four overarching themes:

• jobs, skills and economic opportunities – building a thriving, fair net zero economy with good green jobs and sustainable growth
• communities and places – empowering local areas to reach net zero in ways that reflect their strengths and needs
• people and equity – ensuring access to basic needs, fair opportunities and wellbeing, with costs falling primarily on those most able to bear them
• environment, biodiversity and adaptation – creating resilient, biodiverse environments that support healthy lives and sustainable livelihoods.

These outcomes underpin a person-centred, equitable approach to policy and delivery.

Sectoral Planning – the draft Energy Strategy and Just Transition Plan (2023) sets out a shared vision for Scotland’s future energy system and the steps needed to manage change fairly.

Other Just Transition Plans include:

• Draft Transport JTP (2025) – aligning with the National Transport Strategy 2, setting a pathway to reduce transport emissions while addressing inequalities and supporting workforce transition. Just Transition: draft plan for transport in Scotland - gov.scot
• Draft Land Use and Agriculture JTP (2025) – focusing on sustainable livelihoods, skills, health and thriving rural and island communities, establishing a strategic direction for future planning. Supporting Scotland’s transition - land use and agriculture: consultation - gov.scot
• Built Environment and Construction – to follow the above plans, outlining the just transition considerations of the sector’s transition to net zero.

Supporting discussion papers (June 2023) set out proposed outcomes and priorities for each sector.

Site Planning – site-specific plans address areas undergoing major industrial change. A Just Transition Plan for the Grangemouth Industrial Cluster (published June 2025) examines economic, workforce and community impacts, with a co-designed vision for a fair transition.

2.2.1.2 Public Engagement Strategy

Under Section 91 of the 2009 Act, Scottish Ministers must publish a public engagement strategy on climate change, setting out how people will be informed and encouraged to contribute to national climate targets. The current strategy, Net Zero Nation: A Public Engagement Strategy for Climate Change (2021), takes a people-centred approach, promoting society-wide transformation rather than incremental change.

Public bodies have a key role as trusted messengers. They should engage staff, stakeholders and communities when developing climate policies and plans, ensuring voices, especially those most affected by the transition, are heard and reflected in decisions, and that people understand the impacts and relevance to their lives. Collaboration between public bodies and climate action hubs – which provide a vital framework for communities to come together, share ideas, take collective climate action and which could support engagement with communities on how to address local climate challenges – is encouraged.

The strategy’s three objectives are:

• understand – increase awareness of Scotland’s climate action and its relevance to daily life
• act – support practical action at household, community and organisational levels
• participate – enable people to shape fair, inclusive policies and contribute to the transition.

Public bodies should reference the strategy and adopt its approaches in their own engagement activities.

2.2.1.3 Mitigation – scope of the duties

Public bodies must act in the way best calculated to contribute to Scotland’s emissions reduction targets, including the 2045 net zero target and the five-yearly carbon budgets. Although targets are economy-wide, the public sector is expected to lead by example, setting ambitious emissions targets and delivery plans, ideally achieving net zero ahead of 2045.

Bodies typically generate both direct emissions (e.g. from heating buildings and fleet vehicles) and indirect emissions (e.g. electricity use, waste treatment, staff travel and supply chains). They also influence wider emissions through policy, procurement and service delivery.

Public bodies should take a comprehensive approach, addressing all emissions within their control and sphere of influence. Detailed guidance on implementing this duty is provided in Chapter 5 (Reducing Emissions) and Chapter 8 (Reporting). Links to equalities considerations are discussed in Chapter 3.

2.2.2 Adaptation

The framework for climate adaptation is set out in UK and Scottish legislation.

• Under Section 56 of the UK Climate Change Act 2008, the UK Government must publish a Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3) every five years, with advice from the Climate Change Committee (CCC).
• Section 53 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires Scottish Ministers to prepare a Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP) after each CCRA, setting objectives, policies and proposals for building resilience.

Each adaptation plan must include objectives, stakeholder involvement, public engagement mechanisms, and timescales, alongside annual progress reporting per five-year cycle.

2.2.2.1 Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024-2029 (SNAP3)

The third Scottish National Adaptation Plan (SNAP3) was published in September 2024. SNAP3 sets out five long-term adaptation outcomes, a set of 23 shorter-term national adaptation objectives, and policies and proposals to respond over the period 2024 to 2029 to the risks for Scotland identified in the 2022 UK Climate Change Risk Assessment (CCRA3).

SNAP3’s strategic aim to build Scotland’s resilience to climate change, and its five long-term adaptation outcomes are:

• nature connects across our land, settlements, coasts and seas
• communities are creating climate-resilient, healthy and equitable places
• public services are collaborating in effective and inclusive adaptation action
• economies and industries are adapting and realising opportunities in our Just Transition
• Scotland’s international role supports climate justice and enhanced global action on climate adaptation.

2.2.2.2 Adaptation – scope of the duties

Public bodies must, in exercising their functions, act in the way best calculated to help deliver the Scottish National Adaptation Plan.

This means that all public bodies must:

1. plan for the delivery of their functions and services in Scotland’s changing climate

2. identify the national adaptation objectives relevant to their functions and act in a way that supports the delivery of these objectives.

Organisations will have varying degrees of influence in relation to the national adaptation objectives depending on their particular role, functions and responsibilities, but all public bodies need to be resilient to the future climate.

This begins with understanding how climate change will affect their operations through climate risk assessments, developing adaptation plans, and tracking and reporting progress over time. Further details are provided in Chapter 6 (Implementing the second duty: adaptation).

2.2.3 Acting sustainably – scope of the duties

The third duty places a requirement on public bodies, in exercising their functions, to act in the way they consider most sustainable. In reaching well-informed decisions, public bodies should ensure that the full range of social, economic and environmental considerations are fully taken into account alongside the impact on GHG emissions, and that these aspects are viewed over the short and long term.

Public bodies should integrate sustainability into their decision-making processes, for example by assessing the sustainability of policy decisions and strategies, budgets and capital projects; and by considering how these contribute to the National Performance Framework outcomes. Impact assessments can be an effective tool for integrating sustainability into decision making.

Sustainability and the actions public bodies are expected to take are explored in more detail in Chapter 7 (Implementing the third duty: acting in the most sustainable way).

2.2.4 Compliance with the climate change duties

Scottish Ministers may require certain public bodies, by order under section 46 of the 2009 Act, to report on their compliance with the climate change duties.

The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015, as amended, sets out annual reporting requirements and the list of major public bodies who must fulfil such requirements. Reporting, both statutory and non-statutory, is covered in detail in Chapter 8.

External scrutiny of compliance

Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) is an independent public body set up to consider the effectiveness of environmental law in Scotland, including whether environmental laws and standards are being adhered to by Scottish public authorities.

Using powers granted by the UK Withdrawal from the European Union (Continuity) (Scotland) Act 2021, ESS has the power to:

• investigate whether a public body is complying with its statutory climate change duties, and whether those duties are effective
• consider representations from the public on Scottish Public authorities’ compliance with, and the effectiveness of, environmental law
• take formal enforcement action through the issuing of compliance notices or the laying of improvement reports in the Scottish Parliament.

All Scottish public authorities are under a legal duty to co-operate with ESS in connection with the exercise of its functions. They must also make all reasonable efforts to swiftly resolve matters and reach agreement on remedial action proposed by ESS.

From 2026-27 onwards, ESS will actively monitor local authorities’ delivery of climate activity, including compliance with their climate change duties.