Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics 2024

Chart 9 shows the trends in emissions, broken down by gas from 1990 to 2024

 

Chart 9.  Scottish Greenhouse Gas Emissions, by Gas, 1990-2024.

 

 

 

Main Points

• Carbon dioxide is by far the largest contributor to Scottish greenhouse gas emissions in all years (64.5 per cent of all emissions in 2024) and is the most volatile series of all gases – largely driven by changes in energy supply emissions and to a lesser extent, emissions from buildings.

   

• Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas in 2023 (26.2 per cent of all net emissions) followed by nitrous oxide (7.9 per cent) and F-gases making up the remainder (1.5 per cent).   

 

• Carbon dioxide has seen the largest reduction from 1990 to 2024 (32.8 MtCO2e reduction). There have also been reductions in both methane (6.1 MtCO2e reduction) and nitrous oxide (1.2 MtCO2e reduction).  Although they still remain small in absolute terms, some of these gases have particularly large global warming potentials.  These HFCs replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) which were banned by the Montreal Protocol due to their impact on the ozone layer.

 

Charts 10 to 13 present results on individual gases broken down by main sectors over time.  Chart 10 shows how carbon dioxide emissions have changed from 1990 to 2024.

 

Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

Chart 10. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Emissions by Territorial Emissions Statistics Sector, 1990 to 2024. 

Main Points

• Chart 10 shows that Electricity Supply was a key source of carbon dioxide emissions in the earlier part of the time-series, after which the change in fuels used in electricity generation substantially reduces CO2 emissions from this source. Change in electricity supply emissions is the main driver of changes in total carbon dioxide emissions.

 

• Transport (excluding international) is the next most common source of carbon dioxide emissions across the entire time-series.

 

• The LULUCF sector, has become a much greater net CO2 sink for Scotland over the time-series. In 1990 it emitted 1.2 MtCO2 of net CO2 emissions.  From 1995, this sector became a net-CO2 sink, reaching a maximum in 2012 when it acted to sequestrate 5.1 MtCO2.  Since that time, this net CO2 sink has been generally reducing slightly to its current (2024) level where it reached net CO2 emissions of -4.3 MtCO2 These trends reflect forestry planting activities in the early 1990s reaching maturity and gradually reducing its potential to remove CO2.

 

Methane (CH4)

Chart 11. Methane (CH4) Emissions by Territorial Emissions Statistics Sector 1990 to 2024. 

Main Points

• Methane emissions from Waste Management have fallen by 3.2 MtCO2e between 1990 and 2024 (a 69.3 per cent reduction). This is largely due to the progressive introduction of methane capture and oxidation systems within landfill management.

 

• In the Fuel Supply sector, methane emissions have fallen by 1.7 MtCO2e between 1990 and 2024 (an 83.4 per cent reduction), partly due to reductions in emissions from sources such as coal mining.

 

• Methane emissions in the Agriculture sector have fallen by 1.0 MtCO2e between 1990 and 2024 (a 18.3 per cent reduction).  This is mainly due to a decrease in livestock numbers (particularly cattle and sheep).

 

• Land Use emissions of methane have risen very slightly over the entire time-series.

 

Nitrous Oxide (N2O)

Chart 12.  Nitrous Oxide (N2O) Emissions by Territorial Emissions Statistics Sector, 1990 to 2024.

 

Main Points

• Agriculture is by far the main contributor to emissions of nitrous oxide.  These are largely produced by agricultural practices on soils, and to a lesser extent by animal manures.  Emissions of nitrous oxide in this sector have fallen by 0.6 MtCO2e between 1990 and 2024 – a 25.5 per cent reduction.

 

• ‘Land Use, Land Use Change And Forestry’ fell by 0.3 MtCO2e (30.8 per cent reduction) between 1990 and 2024.

 

 

 

Fluorinated gases (F-gases)

Chart 13. F-gas Emissions by Territorial Emissions Statistics Sector, 1990 to 2024

  

Main Points

• F gases are the most potent greenhouse gases with high global warming potentials but they are emitted in very small quantities in a limited number of sectors.  As a result, they contribute less to global warming than the other greenhouse gases in Scotland. (For targets, these gases use 1995 as a baseline year rather than 1990)

 

• There is a sharp increase in HFC gases of 1.0 MtCO2e between 1990 and 2012 (from 0.2 MtCO2e in 1995 to 1.1 MtCO2e in 2013), but have since decreased every year from that peak.   This change was largely in the buildings and product use sector. This increase is because F gases were introduced to replace chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), which were used in appliances such as industrial air conditioning units.  CFCs were banned under the Montreal Protocol, as they were contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer. 

 

 

 

Table 4. Scottish Greenhouse Gases, by gas, 1990 to 2024. Values in MtCO2e

 

Gas	1990	2023	2024	1990-2024		2023-2023
				Change	% Change	Change	% Change
CO2	57.9	25.3	25.1	-32.8	-56.6%	-0.1	-0.5%
CH4	16.3	10.3	10.2	-6.1	-37.6%	-0.2	-1.6%
N2O	4.3	3.1	3.1	-1.2	-28.4%	0.0	-1.3%
F-Gases	0.2	0.7	0.6	0.4	253.5%	-0.1	-10.7%
HFCs	0.0	0.6	0.5	0.5	20534.7%	-0.1	-9.8%
PFCs	0.1	0.0	0.0	-0.1	-69.4%	0.0	-13.8%
SF6	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-7.4%	0.0	-18.5%
NF3	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	-17.5%	0.0	0.0%
Net emissions	78.7	39.4	39.0	-39.7	-50.5%	-0.4	-1.0%

 

 

(some early years omitted to fit table on page, full table available in the accompanying excel tables file)

 

 

 

 

Table 5:  Emissions from electricity generation by fuel source, 1990 to 2024.  Values in MtCO2e

 

Fuel source	1990		2023		2024		1990-2024  Change	2023-2023 Change
Power stations - coal		11.5		0.0		0.0	-11.5	0.0
Power stations - gas		0.0		0.6		0.5	0.5	-0.1
Power stations - municipal solid waste		0.0		0.4		0.4	0.4	0.0
Power stations - other fuel		0.0		0.0		0.0	0.0	0.0
Power stations - petroleum		3.2		0.1		0.1	-3.1	0.0
Net emissions		14.7		1.1		1.1	-13.7	-0.1