Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025: statement

Introduction

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025 (“the 2025 Regulations”), if approved by the Scottish Parliament, will amend the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”) to include the Scottish carbon budgets for the five year periods 2026 to 2030, 2031 to 2035, 2036 to 2040 and 2041 to 2045^[1]. Subject to their approval by Parliament, these regulations will be the first made under section A4(1) of the 2009 Act.

A carbon budget sets a limit on the amount of greenhouse gases that can be emitted in Scotland over a five-year period. There are multiple ways that carbon budgets can be expressed and section A4(2) of the 2009 Act provides two examples as follows:

• Carbon budgets may set by expressing the prescribed number of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent for the given period as a figure (that is as a number).
• Carbon budgets may also be set by expressing the prescribed number of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent as a method for calculating a figure (that is by way of an equation). Section A4(2)(b) specifically suggests that carbon budgets may be expressed as a proportion (percentage) of the baseline multiplied by the number of years comprising the period.

The 2025 Regulations take the latter approach, expressing the Scottish carbon budgets as a proportion of the baseline emissions level as defined in the 2009 Act, and multiplying it by 5 (representing the number of years in a Scottish carbon budget period).

If approved by the Scottish Parliament, the 2025 Regulations will, once made by Ministers, set the levels of Scottish carbon budgets as shown in the table, which presents levels equivalent to the Climate Change Committee (“CCC”)’s advice but which have been calculated in accordance with the 2009 Act:

A table comprising the CCC’s advised carbon budget levels, the Scottish carbon budget levels proposed in the 2025 Regulations, and the equivalent number of Megatons of Carbon Dioxide (“MtCO2e”) for each, can be found in a table later in this statement.

Shortly after the regulations come into force, a draft Climate Change Plan (“CCP”) will be laid in Parliament, as per sections 35 and 35A of the 2009 Act. The next CCP will cover the period from 2026 to 2040 and is divided into chapters relating to key sectors: energy supply; transport (including international aviation and shipping); business and industrial process and Negative Emissions Technologies (“NETs”); residential and public (in relation to buildings in those sectors); waste management; land use, land use change and forestry (“LULUCF”); and agriculture. The CCP sets out the proposals and policies for meeting the Scottish carbon budget targets that fall within the plan period.

Not exceeding a carbon budget is a “Scottish carbon budget target”. At the end of each Scottish carbon budget period, an assessment will be made regarding whether or not the Scottish carbon budget target has been met. Our measurement of emissions against targets will continue to include all emissions from sectors included in the CCP, including those from international aviation and shipping.