Scotland's Climate Change Plan – 2026-2040 - Children's version

Scotland's Draft Climate Change Plan: 2026-2040. A Children and Young People’s Guide to understanding the new draft plan

Hello!

Welcome to the Scottish Government’s children’s and young people’s guide to the Climate Change Plan called the CCP.

The CCP is a 15-year plan, covering 2026 to 2040, made to help Scotland reduce the effects of climate change. Scotland has a target to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045. Net zero means finding a balance between emissions released in the air and those we remove from it, for example by trees absorbing greenhouse gases. The goal is to ensure that our planet remains at a comfortable temperature so that all living things, from planets to animals, can grow and survive.

You can find page numbers at the top right corner of each page (this is page 2). Page 3 will continue with a few more instructions.

Page 4 explains what climate change is and why we need to reduce the effects of this. Page 5 explains the key actions in this plan.

Pages 6 to 12 explain the 7 different sectors that will take forward the action to reduce the effects of climate change.

• Buildings (Residential and Public) (Page 6)
• Transport (Page 7)
• Waste (Page 8)
• Energy Supply (Page 9)
• Business and Industrial Process (Page 10)
• Agriculture (Page 11)
• Land use, land use change and forestry (Page 12)

Lots of different people, groups and organisations from across Scotland will be working together to carry out the changes in the plan. For instance, our scientists and researchers will give us the information we need to make good choices. Page 14 gives ideas of things you can do to play a part in reducing the effects of climate change.

Some tricky words are in this document. You can find explanations of these words on Page 15,16 and 17.