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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Purpose of second annual report
There is no doubt that in recent years awareness of the serious threat climate change poses has increased significantly. Climate change is regularly in the headlines and public awareness of the need to take action to reduce emissions has gained momentum. The Scottish Government is committed to taking action to reduce emissions and to helping Scotland to adapt to the, now inevitable, impacts of climate change. This report outlines actions taken over the past year towards these goals.
Changing Our Ways - Scotland's Climate Change Programme1 - was published in March 2006. This strengthened the original Scottish Climate Change Programme published in 2000 and set a framework for delivering carbon savings from devolved policy measures in 2010. This is the second annual report on progress.
The Scottish Government wants Scotland to show genuine leadership in tackling climate change and for our efforts to inspire others. By taking a lead on issues such as renewables, microgeneration, reforestation and sustainable transport Scotland has the potential to demonstrate to others what can be achieved. Our expertise in the energy sector, immense energy resources and world class scientific capacity can enable us to rise to the challenge climate change presents.
The purpose of this second annual report is to provide a factual report on policies and programmes across government which contribute to carbon savings or adaptation measures. This is by no means an exhaustive list and we are conscious that there is much additional activity driven by the private, public and third sector 2 as well as individuals in Scotland.
1.2 Future reporting plans
Changing Our Ways quantified the Scottish Share - Scotland's equitable contribution to UK climate change commitments - at 1.7 million tonnes carbon - and committed to exceeding this by 1 million tonnes carbon in 2010. Since this target was set there have been several developments in the contributing policies as well as a change of Government. New legislation on climate change is under development on both a UK and Scottish level and we have committed to a much more ambitious 80% emissions reduction target by 2050 in Scotland. An interim target to reduce emissions by 2011 was also set out in the Government Economic Strategy in November 2007. This, and the next three annual reports, will therefore outline work underway to ensure delivery of this shorter term target.
The Scottish Government believes that its commitment to reducing Scotland's emissions should be underpinned by a regular and comprehensive reporting and scrutiny regime. Changes to reporting requirements are currently being considered as part of the consultation process on a Scottish Climate Change Bill. It is proposed that future progress reports will provide more detailed information on emissions, methodology for calculating emissions, sectoral trends and an assessment of the effectiveness of current or planned policies.
1.3 Emission trends
Information on Scottish emissions is published as part of the Greenhouse Gas Inventories for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland 3. Due to a time lag in producing the data, emissions data most closely related to the period of this report (2007) will not be available until autumn 2009 4.
The latest available emissions data relates to 2005 5 and was published in September 2007. This shows that Scotland's net emissions of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO 2e) 6 in 2005 were around 54 million tonnes. This is approximately 0.2% of global CO 2 emissions and 0.15% of global greenhouse gas emissions due to human activities. Between 1990 and 2005 CO 2 emissions reduced by 12.5%, predominantly due to economic restructuring and afforestation, and non-CO 2 gases reduced by 25.3%, predominantly from a decrease in CH 4 (methane) emissions from landfill and N 2O (nitrous oxide) emissions from fertilisers, as well as a decrease in deep mine emissions. The overall reduction in net greenhouse gas emissions in that period was 15.4%.
However, although the 1990-2005 trend shows a reduction in emissions, emissions can vary significantly from year to year often due to factors which are outwith government control. Published figures for carbon dioxide emissions from Scottish sites in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme in 2006 suggest that these will lead to a significant increase of around 8% of Scottish emissions compared with 2005. This rise is principally due to a shift to more coal-fired electricity production that year as the relative price of gas increased 7.
The Scottish Government is working closely with Defra and other devolved administrations to make continual improvements to the Greenhouse Gas Inventories and to develop end user emission data. Information on energy projections will be included in the Scottish Energy Study, Volume 5 which is due for publication in spring 2008. This will help inform predictions on future emissions in Scotland.
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