A new report from the Scottish Government, released today (5 September), has found that despite an increase in carbon emissions in 2010 (attributed to a ‘cold winter’ that increased heat demand), Scotland’s global carbon footprint has fallen by 19 per cent since the new administration came into power (in 2007).

The statistical publication, ‘Scotland’s Carbon Footprint 1998-2010’, provides estimates of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions on a ‘consumption basis’; this includes emissions associated with the spending of Scottish residents on goods and services, wherever in the world they arise, together with those directly generated by Scottish households.

Report findings

The report aims to examine the consequences of the shift in the UK’s economy from a manufacturing base towards a services sector since 1990, and the resultant increase in goods and services that Scotland imports from producers outside of the UK. It found that the country’s carbon footprint fell by six per cent between 1998 and 2010.

Other key findings include:

• Scotland’s carbon footprint rose in 2010, after falling from a peak in 2007;
• between 2009 and 2010, Scotland’s carbon footprint increased by four per cent, following a 19 per cent fall in 2009;
• from 1998, the footprint rose by 15 per cent to a peak of 101.1 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2007, before falling to 78.7 MtCO2e in 2009.
• in 2010, Scotland’s carbon footprint was 82.2 MtCO2e, six per cent less than in 1998. Meanwhile Scotland’s production emissions have fallen by 15 per cent;
• GHG emissions relating to Scottish consumption of imports rose 34 per cent between 1998 and its peak in 2007. Since 2007, emissions from imports fell to a low in 2009 before increasing in 2010 to a level four per cent less than in 1998; and
• emissions relating to Scottish consumption of goods and services produced in the UK, together with Scottish households’ direct consumption of fuel, decreased by eight per cent between 1998 and 2010.

According to a report published by the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) in April this year, the overall UK carbon footprint has increased in the last two decades, which was said to reflect the ’relatively small share of manufacturing in UK GDP’.

Scotland ‘committed to meeting its targets’

Speaking of the latest statistics, Environment and Climate Change Minister, Paul Wheelhouse, said: “The statistics published today show a 19 per cent reduction in Scotland’s global carbon footprint since this government first came to office in 2007. This compares to 15 per cent rise in Scotland’s global emissions between 1998 and 2007.

“While the slight increase in emissions in 2010 is disappointing, it is in part due to the particularly cold weather and the associated increase in emissions from household heating which occurred at the beginning and end of that year, and we know that these emissions fell substantially in the following year.

“With Scotland’s global carbon footprint reducing by almost a fifth since 2007, I welcome Scotland’s overall continued progress despite annual fluctuations which are due to a range of factors. The long-term trend shows we will achieve our world-leading emissions reduction targets, for greenhouse gases generated in Scotland, if we continue on the course we have set. I also welcome that Scotland continues to lead Western Europe on emissions reductions.

Wheelhouse added that he hoped Scotland’s new policies, such as the new Waste (Scotland) Regulations, set to come into force in 2014, will help to reduce Scotland’s global emissions footprint ‘through greater prevention, reuse and recycling of materials whilst also reducing Scotland's reliance on the world’s limited supply of primary resources’.

Read Scotland’s Carbon Footprint 1998-2010 report.