The Scottish government has published its new climate change policy, which details how it will meet an emissions reduction target of 66% by 2032, against 1990 levels. Scotland is already on track to meet its 2020 target of a 42% emissions reduction. The new policy will work in conjunction with the energy strategy to enable Scotland to meet 50% of all of its energy needs from renewables by 2030 and all electricity demand from renewables by 2020. Scotland is rich in natural resources, enabling it to generate energy from wave, tidal, hydro, solar, and wind.
Electricity will become increasingly important as a source of heat and for use in transport as the use of electric vehicles increases. New innovations are expected to provide consumers with increased control over their energy use and to help integrate local energy systems. An element of Scotland’s strategy is to continue in its support of investment and innovation across the oil and gas sector, including exploration, innovation, subsea engineering, decommissioning, and carbon capture and storage (CCS). In response to the new plan, the research group Scottish Carbon Capture & Storage said, “Scotland is uniquely well-placed to deliver CCS: we have the offshore geology that is needed to store carbon dioxide (CO2) securely for thousands of years, and we have the expertise from the oil and gas industry to be able to develop commercial stores – a new offshore industry,”
In the longer term, Scotland aims to deliver emissions reductions through a circular economy approach. A circular economy designs the waste out of products and services, as far as it can, with the aim of keeping resources in use for as long as possible. It is underpinned by a transition to renewable energy sources. The European Union is implementing a Circular Economy Action Plan through a series of measures, some of which have been introduced this year. For example, the EU Strategy for Plastics in the Circular Economy aims to transform the way plastics and plastic products are designed, produced, used, and recycled. A specific measure is to reduce the impact of single-use plastics.
