After failing to achieve emission goals, Scotland sets new climate change targets

After failing to achieve previous goals set for controlling the carbon emission in Scotland, the government is set to bring in new targets to tackle climate change in the country. The new plan unveiled by the government spans over the next 20 years and aims to reduce emission by an average of 69% by 2035 in comparison to 1990 levels.

The latest targets come after the country’s ministers abandoned the annual targets in 2024 as they were consistently missed. They, however, had retained the pledge to reach net zero by 2045 back in 2019. The new target states emissions need to fall by an average of 57% over the next five years.

Cabinet secretary for climate action and energy Gillian Martin said that Scotland is now halfway to the 2045 climate change target and is ahead of the UK as a whole in reducing long term emissions. He also stated that the new climate change plan will not ask the impossible of people and will not sacrifice people's health or wealth.


The Scottish government, in 2019, had set its original goals for climate change aiming to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030. Then First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had called the targets as "amongst the most ambitious anywhere in the world" in 2021 ahead of the UN's COP26 climate talks in Glasgow. The targets were discarded in 2024 after the government's independent advisers, the CCC, issued a warning and dubbed them no longer achievable.

Now, the Scottish government wants to move to a system of measuring emissions using carbon budgets over five-year periods instead of annual targets.

The Scottish government wants to move to a system of measuring emissions using carbon budgets over five-year periods instead of annual targets. The average level 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 and 94% lower than 1990 levels for 2041 - 2045, according to the Scottish government.

Currently, the country has achieved a 51.3% emissions reduction since the baseline year of 1990. The newly devised targets will be achieved using a carbon budgeting system and the proposals will be voted on by MSPs in the autumn, according to BBC.

Will not sacrifice people's health or wealth: Gillian Martin

Gillian Martin, cabinet secretary for climate action and energy, said that the new climate change plan will not ask the impossible of people and will not sacrifice people's health or wealth.

"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,” Martin said.

"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," he added.

Proposals to undergo scrutiny

The proposals are set to undergo scrutiny by Parliament before being voted on in the autumn. After the Carbon Budgets will be agreed, the Scottish Government will publish and consult on a new draft Climate Change Plan highlighting the specific actions needed 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.

Ministers have stated that the five year system of measuring emissions will make measuring progress less prone to annual variations such as extreme weather or a global pandemic., BBC reported. The approach is used in other parts of the world including France, England and Wales. If the targets are agreed then the Scottish government will publish a new plan on how it plans to achieve them.