Legislative and policy context
Addressing anthropogenic (human) contributions to climate change has been an important legislative requirement for both the Scottish and United Kingdom (UK) governments for a number of years. The majority of legislation has been developed to support a comprehensive package of policy measures, aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, initiated through the European Climate Change Programme and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
In 2015, during the UNFCCC’s Conference of Parties - COP 21, the Paris Agreement was adopted, committing Governments to:
- A long-term goal of keeping the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels;
- Aim to limit the increase to 1.5°C, since this would significantly reduce risks and the impacts of climate change;
- Undertake rapid reductions thereafter in accordance with the best available science, so as to achieve a balance between emissions and removals in the second half of the century.
During COP 26 in 2021, nations adopted the Glasgow Climate Pact, a strengthened commitment to build resilience to climate change, curb greenhouse gas emissions and to provide the necessary finance for both.
Nations reaffirmed their collective agreement to work to reduce the gap between existing emission reduction plans and what is required to reduce emissions, so that the rise in the global average temperature can be limited to the Paris Agreement’s 1.5°C.
2015 also saw the United Nations General Assembly launch the Sustainable Development Goals. The 17 global goals are designed to be a blueprint for a more sustainable future for everyone. These goals have influenced both Scotland’s National Performance Framework and the outcomes associated with Climate Ready Scotland, shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 - Climate Ready Scotland and the UN's Sustainable Development Goals.
Following the declaration of a climate emergency and advice from the independent UK Climate Change Committee, the Scottish Government (SG) set some of the most ambitious Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction targets in the world. The amended targets set in the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, have committed Scotland to Net Zero emissions by 2045, compared to 1990 levels with several interim targets also set including at least a 75% reduction by 2030 and 90% reduction by 2040.
In tandem, our NTS2 sets out an ambitious vision for Scotland’s transport system for the next 20 years. The vision is underpinned by four priorities: “Reduces Inequalities”,” Takes Climate Action”, “Helps Deliver Inclusive Economic Growth” and “Improves our Health and Wellbeing.” This CMP supports the “Takes climate action” priority to help deliver Scotland’s Net Zero target.
The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 also places a statutory obligation (known as the public bodies duties) on public sector bodies like TS to:
- Contribute to the delivery of the targets;
- Help deliver any programme laid before the Scottish Parliament.
Each major public body is required to submit their annual emissions performance to Scottish Ministers via the Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015.
Our Public Bodies Climate Change Duties Report acts a mechanism to assess TS’ emissions performance in relation to the targets initially set in our Carbon Management Plan (CMP) 3rd Edition. Recent changes to the reporting requirements necessitate that major public bodies declare a date by which their operations will be Net Zero; with absolute zero emissions for Scope 1, and Net Zero for Scope 2 and identified Scope 3.