The Scottish Government published a draft Climate Change Plan (CCP) on 6 November 2025, marking the start of 120 days of its parliamentary scrutiny (until 5 March).
This Plan outlines how the Government intends to meet emissions reduction targets across all portfolio areas and sectors of the economy and covers the period 2026-2040 as Scotland looks to be ‘net zero’ in carbon emissions by 2045. Net zero is the point when emissions entering the atmosphere are balanced by removals out of the atmosphere.
Scrutiny of the draft CCP will be a cross-parliamentary effort, reflecting the fact that climate change impacts across all sectors, with the Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee taking the lead.
Scrutiny will focus on areas such as the overall trajectory of emissions, governance, policy coherence, electricity, buildings, transport, industry, waste & circular economy, land use & forestry, agriculture, and negative emissions.
Background information on climate change and Scottish Parliament committees can be found in SPICe Hub: Climate change and Scottish Parliament committees.
This blog provides a central hub for SPICe publications on the CCP to assist Members and others. It will be updated as new blogs and briefings become available:
- Climate Change Plan: what’s the background and what does it need to do (November 2025)
- Draft Climate Change Plan – Background Information and Key Issues (December 2025)
- Climate Change Plan: policies, proposals and sector summaries (December 2025)
- Climate Change Plan: decarbonising energy supply in Scotland (December 2025)
- The lie of the land in the Scottish Government’s draft Climate Change Plan – Part 1: Agriculture (December 2025)
- The lie of the land in the Scottish Government’s draft Climate Change Plan – Part 2: Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (December 2025)
- Climate Change Plan: will the proposed monitoring and evaluation approach show if delivery is on track? (December 2025)
- Climate Change Plan: waste management and the circular economy (December 2025).
Keeping up to date
To keep up to date with our work, please sign up to SPICe Spotlight updates, use the climate change tag on the blog.
Alasdair Reid – SPICe Research
Featured image by Professor Ed Hawkins, University of Reading.