Scotland's carbon footprint sees biggest rise in 20 years

Scotland’s carbon footprint jumped by almost 15% in 2021 to reach its highest level since 2015, figures show.

It’s the biggest annual increase since records began 23 years ago.

Greenhouse gas emissions rose from 51.6 to 59.2 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2021 – an increase of 14.6%.

It follows a sharp decrease in emissions sparked by the Covid pandemic the year before.

Scottish Government

Transport emissions during that time fell by 23.9% but partially bounced back by 13.1% the year after.

Household heating emissions dropped by 5.2% in 2020 but rose by 8.1% in 2021.

Overall though, Scotland’s carbon footprint has fallen by 19.9% since 1998 from its high of 73.9 MtCO2e.

Compared to 2007, the year emissions started falling, the country’s carbon footprint is down by 27.6%.

As well as emissions directly generated by Scottish households, the Scottish Government’s figures also include emissions associated with the spending of residents on goods and services, even if those products or services are produced in another country.

Since 1998, Scottish greenhouse gas emissions from imported overseas goods have soared from 37.1% to 53.4% of the nation’s carbon footprint.

At the same time, emissions from UK-produced goods and services plummeted from 44.9% to 27% of the overall total.

CO2 produced directly by Scottish residents decreased by 12.8% since 1998 but accounted for an increasing share of the overall carbon footprint of the nation, from 18% to 19.6%.

The European Union was the single biggest region for import emissions, followed by China.

First Minister John Swinney has made tackling climate change one of his four missions in Government.

The Scottish Government has a target for the country to reach net zero by 2045.

The policy has come under scrutiny in recent years though as ministers failed to meet several of their interim net zero targets.

Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay, along with UK Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, claimed the climate targets could hurt the economy.

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party has also called for them to be scrapped.

The Scottish Government has been approached for comment.

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