Scotland's Carbon Footprint - 1998-2020

23rd May 2024

Scotland's Chief Statistician today published Scotland's Carbon Footprint: 1998-2020.

This publication provides estimates of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions on a consumption basis; that is emissions that are associated with the spending of Scottish residents on goods and services, wherever in the world these emissions arise, together with emissions directly generated by Scottish households.

Key points

Between 2019 and 2020, Scotland’s carbon footprint (emissions from all greenhouse gases) decreased by 11.5 per cent from 55.1 to 48.8 million tonnes carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e) in 2020.

Between 1998 and 2020, Scotland’s carbon footprint fell by 33.3 per cent from 73.1 MtCO2e in 1998 to 48.8 MtCO2e in 2020.

Scotland’s carbon footprint rose continuously from 2001 to a peak of 81.2 MtCO2e in 2007 before falling sharply after 2007 (coinciding with the recession) and, with the exception of 2012 and 2018, has fallen each subsequent year.

The overall reduction between the 2007 peak and 2020 is 40.0 per cent.