CIHT has submitted a response to the Scottish Government’s Consultation on the Draft Climate Change Plan (CCP).

The Scottish Government published its draft CCP. The CCP sets out the policies and proposals the Scottish Government will take forward to enable its carbon budgets to be met between 2026-2040, with the aim of achieving net zero by 2045.

The strategy notes that Scotland is over halfway to achieving its target of net zero emissions by 2045. The latest official statistics for Scotland showed that its greenhouse gas emissions had fallen by 51.3% between 1990 and 2023.

The CCP outlines actions that will be taken forward to deliver emissions reductions, broken down by the sector of the economy within which it will be delivered. These sectors are-

• residential and public (in relation to buildings in those sectors),
• transport (including international aviation and shipping),
• waste management,
• energy supply,
• business and industrial process,
• land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), and
• agriculture.

Glasgow in December 2024.

The report identified a set of 7 priority actions for transport sector actors to accelerate progress towards a Net Zero transportation system.

5 of these priority actions are aimed wholly or partly at governments. The 5 priority actions for governments include:

• Priority 3: Demonstrating that transport decarbonisation is on track: Governments should openly and robustly demonstrate and justify how their detailed plans are consistent with (or at odds with) expert advice on the pathway for decarbonising transport and on transport’s contribution to the manufacturing and construction pathway; and professional bodies should offer greater scrutiny and constructive challenge.
• Priority 4 - Effective working between professionals and government: Government(s) in the UK, in conjunction with professional bodies, should consider the suitability of existing convening and collaboration arrangements – both top down driven by government and bottom up, led by industry – within the highways and transportation sector in relation to climate action, and do so in the context of specific areas or goals where progress on climate action is sought
• Priority 5 - Reappraising appraisal to prioritise future wellbeing: Transport investment priorities should be reviewed – by governments, academia, and industry – to ensure clear and appropriate priority is given in the appraisal process to low-carbon outcomes, resilience, and adaptation, all with future wellbeing in mind.
• Priority 6 - Prioritising climate action in national transport strategies: The UK Department for Transport should ensure that its forthcoming Integrated National Transport Strategy (with the breadth of issues it will need to address) has climate action as a core pillar, and it should convey how this can work positively to support economic and social prosperity.
• Priority 7 - Pricing to address transport’s true costs to society: The highways and transportation sector as a whole should clarify the fiscal measures that are available and appropriate to show the true costs of transport, including external, indirect costs to society, otherwise these negative externalities of transport will continue to act as a drag on climate action; and this work should also identify how the impact of any change will affect different socio-economic and road user group.

Read CIHT’s full response here.

CIHT looks forward to working with the Scottish Government to support its carbon reduction objectives and implement the recommendations made in CIHT’s CLIMATES initiative.