Scottish City Region and Growth Deals: Carbon Management Guidance for Projects and Programmes

1. Introduction

This document provides guidance for Project Owners on managing carbon emissions associated with Scottish City Region and Growth Deal projects.

This approach may be considered to be a form of ‘Net Zero Assessment’, whereby the effect of a project, policy or programme on climate change mitigation can be assessed using a proportionate, consistent and tiered approach.

The first iteration of this guidance was issued in August 2021 and it has since been applied widely across Scottish Deal projects and referenced internationally. PAS 2080:2023 – the international standard for carbon management in buildings and infrastructure - identifies this guidance as an exemplar of collaborative, system-level carbon governance across multiple organisations.

This third edition aligns the Scottish City Region & Growth Deals Carbon Management Guidance with current Scottish policy, HM Treasury appraisal requirements, and recent industry standards.

Key updates include:

• Compatibility with the Scottish Government Net Zero Assessment (NZA) and NPF4 climate mitigation requirements.
• Replacement of PAS 2080 (2016) content with PAS 2080:2023, applying whole-life and system-level carbon management across the built environment.
• Replacement of RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessment (2017) with RICS WLCA 2nd Edition (2024).
• Formal use of the Built Environment Carbon Database (BECD).
• Removal of static carbon valuation tables and adoption of live DESNZ/HMT carbon values.
• Strengthened guidance on baselining, counterfactuals, and minimum requirements at SOC/OBC/FBC stages.
• Reference to new content on adaptation and alignment with the forthcoming PAS 3090 on adaptation pathways.