The Scottish government published Scotland’s Carbon Footprint: 1998-2019 report this week, which has shown a major reduction in its carbon footprint between 2006 and 2019.
This publication provides estimates of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions on a consumption basis – emissions that are associated with the spending of Scottish residents on goods and services, wherever in the world these emissions arise, together with emissions directly generated by Scottish households.
The overall reduction in the country’s carbon footprint (measured in million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent – MtCO2e) between its 2006 peak and 2019 is 32.5%.
The government said the peak of 112.4 MtCO2e in 2006 and the sharp fall afterwards coincided with the recession.
Since the peak in 2006, Scotland’s MtCO2e has fallen each subsequent year, with the exception of 2018.
Overall, the publication showed that between 1998 and 2019, Scotland’s carbon footprint fell by 23.6%, from 99.3 MtCO2e in 1998 to 75.9 MtCO2e.
The government credited John Barrett, Anne Owen and Jonathan Norman of the Sustainability Research Institute (SRI) at Leeds University for their “invaluable support” in compiling the figures for the Scottish Carbon Footprint statistics release.
The statistical report meets the requirements under Section 37 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, te Scottish government said, and the updated requirements under Section 21 of the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) Act 2019.
The data contained within the report are also used to inform National Indicator 47: “Carbon Footprint”, it said.
