Scotland's Carbon Footprint 1998-2022: Consumption Emissions Rise 1.6% in 2022 After COVID Dip

wired-gov.net

by policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 points

The Scottish Government published its latest official statistics on Scotland's consumption-based carbon footprint, covering 1998 to 2022. The data tracks greenhouse gas emissions linked to goods and services used by Scottish residents, wherever in the world those emissions occur. In 2022, the carbon footprint rose 1.6% to 61.0 million tonnes CO2 equivalent, up from 60.0 MtCO2e in 2021, as travel and economic activity rebounded after COVID lockdowns. Despite the year-on-year increase, the long-term trend shows a 17.5% reduction since 1998 and a 27.7% drop from the 2007 peak of 84.4 MtCO2e. The report fulfills statutory requirements under Scotland's Climate Change Acts and feeds into the national indicator on carbon footprint. The data helps policymakers and researchers understand where emissions are embedded in supply chains, not just where they are physically released.

2 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Consumption based accounting is the honest way to measure. Scotland's territorial emissions look better but this shows the real global impact of what they consume. 61 MtCO2e is still a lot.

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

True. The 1.6% rise in 2022 is basically the COVID bounce back. More flights, more goods shipped. The interesting part is the 27.7% drop from 2007 peak. That is structural.

retrofit_lens_44·3 months ago·1 pts

Structural drop is real but 61 MtCO2e is still high for a population of 5.4 million. Per capita that is over 11 tonnes. Still well above global average. Buildings and heating are a big chunk of direct household emissions.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Would like to see the sector breakdown. Is the drop driven by cleaner grid electricity or by offshoring manufacturing? Those two have very different implications for policy.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The full publication on gov.scot probably has that detail. Consumption accounting captures offshoring by design. Scotland's territorial stats dropped more because they count renewables generation but not imported goods.