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

Agriculture

Emissions from agricultural activity in Scotland in 2023 were 7.5 MTCO2e, which is around 13% lower than the 1990 baseline. Activity in this sector of the next CCP will be guided by the Scottish Government’s continuing support for the sector on their sustainability journey, as we recognise that agriculture and food production rely on natural processes and will always cause some degree of emissions. As outlined in the Vision for Agriculture, we will transform how we support farming and food production in Scotland to become a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. Agriculture, crofting and land management are important for food production, climate adaptation, nature restoration and thriving rural and island communities. Importantly, we will maintain reformed direct support payments to support active farming and sustainable food production, while introducing increased conditionality on future support payments to support our agricultural businesses to reduce emissions and deliver the outcomes in the Vision for Agriculture.

The Climate Change Plan will not follow all the policies for agriculture set out in the CCC’s balanced pathway, and will prioritise meeting our climate and nature obligations in a way which works Scotland. The Scottish Government is absolutely clear we will reach net zero in a way which works for rural Scotland and plays to our strengths. That means we will continue to support our livestock sector to reduce emissions. There is no policy to reduce livestock numbers. This Government will not bring forward policy to reduce livestock numbers. Net zero policy will continue to be designed with rural communities – not something which is done to them.

We remain committed to supporting our livestock farmers in playing a full part in Scotland’s journey to net zero, including by reducing methane emissions in ways that strengthen farm productivity and resilience. Our approach focuses on livestock efficiency encouraging livestock farmers to undertake steps that will help to reduce the emissions' intensity of their production systems through improvements in genetics, low-methane breeding, and appropriate uptake of methane-suppressing feed products. We also recognise the importance of evidence and practical tools for supporting change on-farm. That’s why we’ve introduced new calving interval conditionality to the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme, helping farmers increase efficiency while lowering emissions. We are also supporting farmers through data-driven tools like MyHerdStats, which provides herd performance metrics to help identify opportunities for improvement.

Proposals and policies in the next CCP will include delivering more sustainable and regenerative farming that, through incentives and regulation, contribute to delivering and producing high-quality and nutritious food, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while contributing towards Scotland's climate change targets and delivering increased biodiversity and wider environmental outcomes. Proposals and policies in the next CCP will include continued delivery of low carbon farming practices through the Agriculture Reform Programme which is helping transform how we deliver agricultural support. This will build on the Whole Farm Plan which came into effect in 2025 as part of the eligibility requirement for Basic Payment Scheme where businesses must undertake two from the following five baseline assessments: Animal Health and Welfare Plan, Biodiversity Audit, Carbon Audit, Integrated Pest Management Plan or Soil Analysis.

New conditions for peatlands and wetlands were introduced in 2025 with enhanced requirements under Cross Compliance to protect peatlands and wetlands. These prohibit a range of damaging agricultural activities from being carried out on peatlands and wetlands including ploughing, cultivating, draining, creating tracks and planting trees.

These changes will be supported by a Code of Practice on Sustainable and Regenerative Agriculture which will identify by way of guidance, principles, aspirations, and practical suggestions on what represents sustainable and regenerative agricultural practice.

Proposals and policies in the next CCP will also include continued support for farmers and crofters to have the skills, knowledge, support and opportunity to adopt and implement low carbon and climate change measure farming practices under an Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation System. We will also introduce a new proposal on the decarbonisation of agricultural non-road mobile machinery and proposals and policies to support the delivery of climate change and nature outcomes through our Future Farming Investment Scheme. This is designed to offer flexible support for capital items that can be used to improve efficiency or support nature and climate-friendly farming, and supporting the uptake of emerging low carbon farming technologies and innovations which could offer opportunities to help our farmers, crofters, and land managers with climate change.

The next CCP will include proposals and policies to help small landholders, tenant farmers and crofters deliver improvements to the land they farm; to become more sustainable and productive in their farming; to protect and restore nature: to help Scotland deliver on our climate change ambitions; and to facilitate those changes by ensuring that farmers are rewarded for their investment of time and resources. For land tenure the measures in Part 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Bill, if agreed by Parliament, and once enacted will contribute to delivery supported by the work of the Tenant Farming Advisory Forum and Tenant Farming Commissioner which will promote the uptake of sustainable and regenerative practices.

Proposals and policies in the next CCP will also include supporting carbon sequestration on agricultural land, by protecting peatlands and wetlands, supporting knowledge transfer and skills development on planting and managing trees as part of a farm business. Greater integrated land use such as forestry, peatland restoration and management, the use of alternative crops for human and animal consumption, energy crops and nature restoration as will all play a fundamental role in combatting the climate emergency and biodiversity crises, while supporting sustainable food production.

Proposals and policies in the next CCP will also include supporting improved soil health, which is central to storing and sequestering carbon, reducing emissions, improving biodiversity and maintaining a good nutrient supply in our soils for growing crops. Farmers and crofters will be supported to improve their soil health through soil analysis as part of the Whole Farm Plan, along with the provision of ongoing guidance and advice and investigating technologies for alternative, improved or more efficient fertilisers and research on nitrogen use efficiency crops.

Finally, proposals and policies in the next CCP will also include supporting reducing emissions from the red meat and dairy sectors by exploring ways to cut emissions intensity, including through improved livestock genetics, low-methane breeding and potentially appropriate uptake of methane suppressing feed products, new technologies and improved animal health and welfare. Along with a pilot scheme working with industry to identify the barriers to the uptake of approved methane inhibitors and to identify a pathway, where appropriate, for the industry to adopt methane supressing feed products.

Whether Ministers expect that, during each of the Scottish carbon budgets, the Scottish net emissions account will, for the first time, be 75% and 90% lower than Baseline

Section A4(7) of the 2009 Act requires Scottish Ministers to state whether they expect that, during a period covered by a carbon budget period they expect the net Scottish emissions account for a year will be 75% and 90% lower than the 1990 emissions baseline for the first time. The table below sets out each carbon budget period and whether the 75% and 90% reductions are met for the first time within each based upon the Scottish carbon budget levels advised by the CCC.

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