The Carbon Budgets propose five-year, statutory limits on emissions from 2026 to 2045. The proposed budgets are in line with the advice from the independent Climate Change Committee (CCC) and the Scottish Government’s own assessments.

The average levels of emissions for Scotland over each five-year period are:

• 57% lower than 1990 levels for 2026 - 2030
• 69% lower than 1990 levels for 2031- 2035
• 80% lower than 1990 levels for 2036 - 2040
• 94% lower than 1990 levels for 2041 - 2045

The proposals will be scrutinised by Parliament before being voted on in the autumn.

Once the Carbon Budgets have been agreed, the Scottish Government will publish and consult on a new draft Climate Change Plan outlining the specific actions required to reduce emissions so as to meet each of the first three carbon budget targets, as well as setting out the associated costs and benefits.

Cabinet secretary for climate action and energy Gillian Martin said: “Scotland is now halfway to our 2045 climate change target and is ahead of the UK as a whole in reducing long-term emissions.

“These Carbon Budgets will set clear limits on emissions for the coming decades in line with the independent advice of the UK Climate Change Committee.

“When we publish our draft Climate Change Plan later this year, it will set out the policies needed to continue to reduce our emissions and meet our first three carbon budget targets.

“It will not ask the impossible of people. We will not sacrifice people’s health or wealth.

“While we welcome the UK CCC’s advice on how to stay within these limits, as they make clear, it is always for Scotland to decide whether those policies are right for us.

“This means, for example, that we will chart our own path on forestry, going further than the CCC suggest. And, to ensure we protect rural communities and have a thriving rural economy, we will not adopt all their recommendations on agriculture and peatland and will instead meet our targets in a way which works for rural Scotland, including supporting and protecting our iconic livestock industries.  

“These Carbon Budgets keep Scotland at the forefront of efforts to protect the planet and our Climate Change Plan will ensure the action we take is fair, ambitious and capable of rising to the emergency before us.”

Carbon budgets provide a reliable and consistent framework to measure progress to net zero and are used by other countries including Japan, France, England and Wales. They are less prone to fluctuations than the Scottish Government’s previous approach of interim and annual targets, which could be affected by annual variations such as unseasonable weather or a global pandemic.

Each carbon budget period will run from 1 January of the start year to 31 December of the final year.

The budgets would continue to include emissions from international aviation and shipping, and there are no provisions to ‘carry over’ emissions from one carbon budget period to the next.