The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (Scottish Carbon Budgets) Amendment Regulations 2025

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations are made under section A4(1) of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (“the 2009 Act”) which requires the Scottish Ministers to set Scottish carbon budgets so that every year between 2026 and the net-zero emissions target year is covered by a budget. A Scottish carbon budget is the number of tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent prescribed for a given period. The Scottish Ministers have a duty under section A3 of the 2009 Act to ensure that each Scottish carbon budget target is met.

Regulation 2(3) amends the 2009 Act by inserting a new section A2A which sets out the carbon budgets for the periods 2026 to 2030, 2031 to 2035, 2036 to 2040 and 2041 to 2045. The carbon budgets are expressed as a proportion of the budget-relevant baseline for each carbon budget period. The “budget-relevant baseline” is the baseline, as defined in section 11 of the 2009 Act, multiplied by the number of years comprising a carbon budget period. This reflects that while the baseline is derived from annual figures, carbon budgets are multi-year figures.

Regulation 2(2) amends section A2(5) of the 2009 Act to refer to the new section A2A.