Publication - Statistics
Scotland’s Carbon Footprint 1998-2022
Estimates of Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions on a consumption basis for the period 1998 to 2022.
Figure 1: Between 2021 and 2022, Scotland’s carbon footprint (emissions from all greenhouse gases) increased by 1.6 per cent from 60 to 61 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2022.
Scotland’s Carbon Footprint, 1998-2022. Values in MtCO2e
Key Points
- Between 2021 and 2022, Scotland’s carbon footprint (emissions from all greenhouse gases) increased by 1.6 per cent from 60.0 to 61.0 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2022.
- Between 1998 and 2022, Scotland’s carbon footprint fell by 17.5 per cent from 73.9 MtCO2e in 1998 to 61.0 MtCO2e in 2022
- Scotland’s carbon footprint rose continuously between 2002 and 2007; peaking at 84.4 MtCO2e in 2007 before falling sharply after 2007 (coinciding with the recession). Since the peak in 2007, the carbon footprint has demonstrated a trend reduction in emissions. The overall reduction between the 2007 peak and 2022 is 27.7 per cent.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank John Barrett, Anne Owen and Jonathan Norman of the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) at Leeds University for their invaluable support in compiling the figures and for continually improving the methodologies and data used in the Scottish Carbon Footprint statistics release.