Submission to Scottish Parliament Call for Views: Climate Change Targets Bill

This report consists of a submission to a call for views by the Scottish Parliament on the Climate Change Targets Bill, launched in August 2024. More information on the consultation is available at: https://yourviews.parliament.scot/nzet/climate-change-targets-bill/consultation/intro/.

The submission draws on research and policy analysis conducted by the Grantham Research Institute that aims to understand the key features of the existing stock of climate change framework laws around the world, and how these features contribute to the positive and negative impacts arising from the laws. It responds to questions relating to carbon budgets, climate change plans, and monitoring and reporting.

Summary recommendations

• We recommend that Scotland adopts carbon budgets with a five-year duration, in line with the UK, with a shorter initial budget period from 2025–2027.
• We do not recommend that the legislation includes ‘banking’ or ‘borrowing’ provisions for managing a surplus or shortfall of emission reductions.  
• It is advisable that the Scottish Government waits until the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC) publishes its advice for the UK’s Seventh Carbon Budget before setting a carbon budget for the same period.
• In the revised legislation, we recommend specifying: (i) the Parliamentary committee responsible for reviewing the proposed carbon budgets; (ii) the timeframe within which Parliamentary review must be conducted; and (iii) a requirement for the Scottish Government to provide Parliament with an explanation of the degree to which the CCC’s advice has been considered in the setting of carbon budgets.
• A plan to deliver Scotland’s first carbon budget should be introduced as rapidly as possible to avoid further delays to climate action.
• The legislation should specify clear deadlines for CCPs and processes for both Parliamentary scrutiny and independent scrutiny by the CCC. We suggest that CCPs are iteratively updated within specified time periods before the start of each subsequent carbon budget cycle.
• For the creation of CCPs, at least five updates should be made to different areas of the current legal framework, relating to: (i) the principle of non-regression; (ii) quantitative and qualitative information on emission reduction measures in plans; (iii) public participation in the climate action planning process; (iv) the consequences of mitigation actions for adaptation and resilience; and (v) local authorities’ roles in developing local climate action plans.
• The following aspects of the current legal framework for CCPs should be retained: the emphasis on just transition principles; the principle of climate justice; and the requirement for public authorities to align their activities with climate goals.
• The legislation should specify the process to be followed if carbon budgets are not met, and any resulting consequences.
• We recommend that the Scottish Government continues its existing system of annual progress reporting against targets alongside the new five-yearly carbon budgets.
• We also recommend that the CCC provides a progress report at the end of each carbon budget cycle for Scotland, and at least one interim report per carbon budget cycle.