Scotland's draft Climate Change Plan 2026-2040: consultation analysis

Background

Context

The Climate Change Plan 2026–2040 (from here on, the Plan) sets out Scotland’s decarbonisation journey to 2040, at a time when the transition will impact everyday life and public consent will be critical to delivering the Plan’s policy measures. In its draft form, the Plan sets out the policies and proposals that will support delivery of Scotland’s statutory target to reach net zero. The consultation on the draft Plan opened following its publication until the 29th of January. In consulting on the draft Plan, the Scottish Government aims to:

• Seek feedback on the policies and proposals set out in the draft Plan to deliver Scotland’s transition to net zero.
• Gather insights across key policy areas (including but not limited to transport, communities, infrastructure, industrial decarbonisation, agriculture, land use, land use change, and forestry, peatlands, health, education, economic development, and engagement), as well as monitoring and evaluating the associated impact assessments and just transition indicators.
• Ensure an active and inclusive consultation over the topic, supported by public engagement events.

Structure of the consultation

The consultation consisted of 33 questions, organised under the following sections:

1. Section 1: Delivering a Just Transition - four questions

2. Section 2: Sectoral contributions, Policies, and Proposals - 11 questions

a. Buildings (Residential and Public) – two questions

b. Transport – three questions

c. Waste – one question

d. Energy Supply - one question

e. Business and Industrial Processes - one question

f. Agriculture and Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry (LULUCF) - three questions

3. Section 3: Impact Assessment – six questions

4. Section 4: Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)s – four questions

5. Section 5: Monitoring emissions reductions – three questions

6. Section 6: Monitoring Just Transition – five questions

Respondents were advised that they did not have to answer all questions and were welcome to respond only to the questions and sections of the report that were relevant to them, with no word count limit.

About this report

This report has been prepared by Alma Economics on behalf of the Scottish Government and provides an independent analysis of responses to the public consultation on the draft Climate Change Plan 2026–2040.

Structure of this report

The draft report mirrors the consultation’s structure, presenting respondents’ feedback for each consultation section along with the corresponding questions. It is organised into the following sections:

1. Chapter 2 sets the methodological approach.

2. Chapter 3 presents the findings of the consultation, including:

a. The profile of respondents

b. The findings of the analysis, organised by question. For each question, we discuss the most frequently mentioned themes identified through our thematic analysis.

3. Chapter 4 includes three appendices: (i) one containing responses related to data sources and relevant case studies that were asked in questions 21 and 22 of the consultation, and were too lengthy to be incorporated in the structure of the main report; (ii) a summary of response rates for each question; and (iii) graphs of close-ended responses to question 7.