Climate Change Plan: The Third Report on Proposals and Policies 2018-2032.

The Climate Change Plan: The Third Report on Proposals and Policies 2018-2032 (the Plan) comprises three parts. Part One sets out the context for the Scottish Government’s climate change proposals and policies. It shows the emissions reductions pathway to 2032 and the roles that will be played by local authorities and the wider public sector, communities and individuals; it describe the impacts of climate change policies along with the behaviour changes in behaviour required to reach our decarbonisation goals. Part One also addresses the impacts on the economy of both action and inaction, and describes the Scottish Government’s international ambitions and activities, along with an assessment of the importance of international cooperation on climate change, not least with the rest of the European Union.
Part Two covers Statutory duties, methodologies and the monitoring framework and indicators to measure progress against the policies set out in the Plan. Part Three of the Plan provides detailed information on the emissions envelopes and emissions reduction trajectories for each sector. Each chapter sets out the proposals and policies for sectors, alongside the indicators to measure progress and adjust policies to keep Scotland on track. The sector chapters of Part Three are, in order: Electricity; Buildings ; Transport; Industry; Waste; Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry; and Agriculture.
In the Electricity sector the Plan aligns the objectives and policy proposals to the one contained in the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy 2017. Ambitions include reduce carbon dioxide per kilowatt hour and increase power by a high penetration of renewables, aided by a range of flexible and responsive technologies; ensuring an energy supply secure and flexible, with a system robust against fluctuations and interruptions to supply. Proposals include a new renewable reduction target by 2030; renewed efforts to secure routes to market for a range of renewable technologies; the development of a whole-system bioenergy action plan; continued support for offshore wind development and innovation; renewed focus on developing local energy systems and models; collaborate on actions to support investment in new pumped storage hydro capacity; smarter and more flexible electricity systems and networks; innovation and deployment of storage technologies and capacity, among others. Similarly in the Industry sector the Plan aligns to the Scottish Government’s Energy Strategy 2017 proposals and ambitions; policy outcomes combine measures that show improvement in energy productivity as well as falls in industrial emissions intensity. In addition, an outcome will be securing new investment to enable commercial demonstration of technologies critical to further industrial emissions reduction. The policies proposals include a combination of fuel diversification, energy efficiency improvements and heat recovery initiatives.
In the Waste sector the Plan reaffirms the Scottish Government’s ambition for a circular economy to be established across Scotland by 2035 qw set out in the Making Things Last: A Circular Economy Strategy for Scotland 2016. Sectorial outcomes include: reduction in waste sent to landfill, reduction in emissions from closed landfill sites.
In the Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) sector it is included afforestation, baseline forest planting, harvested wood products, peatland restoration, development emissions (from settlements) and Agriculture-related Land Use emissions (Indirect nitrous oxide emissions from managed soils, as well as emissions/removals from Cropland, Grassland and Wetlands). This chapter discusses historical emissions and removals arising from LULUCF, and sets out the Scottish Government’s ambitions specifically on forestry and peatland up to 2032. For forestry the Government commit to: introduce a stepped increase in the annual woodland creation rates to enhance the contribution that trees make to reducing emissions through sequestering carbon; to increase the use of sustainably sourced wood fibre to reduce emissions by encouraging the construction industry to increase its use of wood products.
The agriculture sector includes activities related to livestock production and cultivation of land for food or energy crop. The focus of the Plan is on maximising efficiency; this can be achieved by taking a holistic approach to protecting and enhancing soil, optimising land use, tackling livestock disease, utilising the latest technology, maximising input efficiency and turning wastes into resources. The proposals and policies in this chapter take forward the position that was set out in “Getting the Best From our Land – a Land Use Strategy for Scotland 2016–2021” for agriculture.