Scotland is building a net zero, nature positive future. The Global Climate Emergency and the Nature Emergency are twin reinforcing crises: the actions we take to address each are fundamental to our wellbeing and future generations.
Scotland is at the forefront of the journey to reach net zero and restore biodiversity by 2045. Reaching net zero means reducing emissions across all parts of society. Changing how we travel, how we heat our homes, and the sustainability of our food supplies are all vital. Becoming nature positive means addressing the causes of biodiversity loss and restoring Scotland’s natural environment so that it can support species and wildlife as well as thriving communities.
We’re already halfway there in our journey to net zero – and that journey brings opportunities. Between 1990 and 2024 our emissions have more than halved (reduced 50.5%) while the economy grew by 68.5% in real terms; showing that a thriving economy and falling emissions are not only compatible, but can go hand-in-hand.
Scotland is working closely with other nations to do all we can. We are accelerating the development of renewables and low carbon energy. Our universities are leading pioneering climate change research, and our businesses are training our workforce to thrive in the world’s emerging sustainable industries.
Alongside reducing emissions, Scotland is adapting to the climate change that is already happening and preparing for the impacts ahead. We are working to build resilience to impacts including flooding, coastal change, extreme heat, drought and wildfire, protecting our communities, public services, infrastructure, economy and natural environment.
Our commitment to equality and social justice means we are working to support countries and communities most affected by climate change through our Climate Justice Fund (gov.scot).
We were proud to welcome world leaders to the UN Climate Summit COP26 in Glasgow in 2021, and in 2022 Scotland played an instrumental role at COP27 in encouraging other countries to join us in the creation of a Loss and Damage fund. The focus is now on action, and Scotland will play its part at COP31 in Turkey.
Global climate justice
Climate change projects around the world have presented us with unique opportunities to support and collaborate with other countries. Internationally, Scotland has led the way in putting Climate Justice at the heart of our overseas action. Our Climate Justice Fund launched in 2012 with £12m to support some of the world’s most vulnerable people in becoming more resilient to climate change. In 2021, the Fund was tripled, committing £36m to be spent over the following parliamentary term.
At COP26 the same year, Scotland pledged £2m of the Fund to address loss and damage as a result of climate change. One year on, at COP27, the then First Minister dedicated a further £5m, committed to specifically addressing non-economic and slow-onset loss and damage. With Malawi, Zambia and Rwanda, Bangladesh and island nations in the Pacific, we are focussing on community-led action, supporting them to become more resilient to climate impacts.
Scotland also helped establish the Wellbeing Economy Governments (gov.scot) group, an initiative where countries work together to develop sustainability, prosperity and resilience in their economies. Additionally, Scotland sits as one of five co-chairs of the Under2 Coalition (theclimategroup.org), committed to ambitious climate action to limit global temperature rises.
Participating in global actions has given Scotland the chance to help deliver lasting change. We know there is more that we can do and will continue to work with communities around the world to come together and tackle the big challenges.
Renewable energies
Scotland is renowned as a pioneer of renewables and has made excellent progress in renewable electricity generation. We’ve set a target for 2030 for the equivalent of 50% of the energy for Scotland's heat, transport and electricity use to come from renewable sources.
We continue to monitor progress being made in renewable electricity generation, with 72% coming from renewable sources in 2025. This is a huge achievement that is fundamental for the decarbonisation of our economy and society.
Offshore wind
Harnessing the wind power off our shores will play a significant part in our net zero efforts.
Scotland is already at the forefront of offshore wind development. As of June 2026, Scotland has the capacity to generate 4.3 GW of clean electricity from offshore wind. This is the equivalent of powering every home in Scotland for over two years.
Through the ScotWind and Innovation and Targeted Oil & Gas (INTOG) leasing rounds – as well as other projects – Scotland has the opportunity to deliver a potential pipeline of over 40 GW of offshore wind capacity, over half of which is floating offshore wind.
Building on our world leading subsea engineering capabilities, oil and gas legacy and a large pipeline of projects, Scotland is attracting investment in offshore wind supply chain and ports infrastructure. Through our Offshore Wind Investment Programme investments and our strategic investment at Ardersier on the Moray Firth, we have already committed over £191m, a further £70m from UK public finance institutions and up to £713m in private investment into offshore wind and supply chain projects with the potential to support up to 5,000 jobs. Recent commitments by Subsea Micropiles and SSE Renewables at the Port of Montrose highlight industry confidence in Scotland’s skilled workforce, innovation, and expertise.
Scotland’s network of ports has a proven track record in renewables delivery, providing the infrastructure which underpins our world-leading offshore wind ambitions. Our ports offer capabilities across the full offshore wind value chain and are attracting significant investment to support future deployment at scale.
Our Offshore Wind Skills Programme is taking further steps to build the workforce needed to deliver Scotland’s offshore wind pipeline, aligning training provision with demand to help ensure we have the workforce required to support deployment at scale.
We will continue to do everything within our power to ensure that the offshore wind opportunity for Scotland is realised, maximising economic growth and creating well paid jobs to benefit communities across Scotland.
Tidal Energy
Scotland has also been leading the way in harvesting tidal energy, with Nova Innovation (novainnovation.com) deploying the world’s first fully-operational offshore tidal array, and Orbital Marine Power’s (orbitalmarine.com) world’s most powerful tidal turbine.
Hydrogen
Scotland also hosts several hydrogen energy projects, which are shaping a greener future. These include the world’s first domestic hydrogen heat network, innovation in hydrogen storage and distribution.
Solar energy
Solar energy can play and important role in supporting the transition to a secure, affordable and decarbonised energy system. Alongside other renewable technologies, solar can contribute to a diverse energy mix that supports Scotland's net zero ambitions.
The Scottish Government continues to work with industry, regulators and other stakeholders to understand opportunities and barriers to solar deployment across Scotland. Work is underway to strengthen the evidence base on the contribution solar can make to Scotland's future energy system, helping to inform future policy and deployment.
Onshore wind
Onshore wind is a cheap and reliable source of electricity generation and a key part of Scotland's energy mix. Scotland's resource and commitment have seen it lead the way in onshore wind deployment and support across the UK.
Onshore wind will remain central to Scotland's energy future helping to support the transition to a low-carbon energy system.
Scotland is home to a number of significant onshore wind developments, including Whitelee Wind Farm south of Glasgow, with an installed capacity of 539 MW; the 443 MW Viking Wind Farm in Shetland was completed in 2024 and is expected to generate enough renewable electricity to power around 500,000 homes, including every home in the Shetland Islands.
Pumped Hydro Storage
Increasing our long duration electricity storage capacity (including pumped hydro storage) is crucial to the energy transition. It plays a vital role in providing flexibility services to the grid and helping to ensure a continued resilient and secure electricity supply.
Climate Adaptation
Scotland's climate is already changing, bringing increasing risks from flooding, coastal change, extreme heat, drought and wildfire. Our Scottish National Adaptation Plan 2024–2029 sets out how Scotland is adapting to these impacts and building resilience across our communities, economy, infrastructure, public services and natural environment.
Adapting to climate change is an important part of strengthening Scotland's resilience to emergencies. Scotland's Resilience Partnerships bring together emergency responder organisations to understand emerging risks, plan and prepare for them, and coordinate effective response and recovery when emergencies occur.
Resilience is not solely the responsibility of emergency responders. Individuals, communities, and voluntary, community and faith sector organisations, all have an important role to play.
Adaptation is preventative action. Building resilience now can reduce disruption and avoid greater costs and damages in the future, while helping to create healthier, fairer and more resilient places and communities.
A resilient economy depends on Scotland being prepared for a changing climate, reducing the risks that climate impacts pose to businesses, infrastructure, supply chains, workers and communities.
Just transition
A just transition is about making sure that, as we reduce our emissions and respond to a changing climate, the journey is fair and creates a better future for everyone - regardless of where they live, what they do, and who they are.
We are committed to ensuring Scotland continues to capitalise in a sustainable way the just transition to net zero - providing jobs, benefiting communities and supporting economic growth.
A crucial part of a just transition is about supporting workers and affected communities as we plan the move away from carbon-intensive industries. Our goal is to make the economy work for everyone, whilst protecting our planet. This means the creation of good, green jobs to support this change, with everyone playing their part in creating a fairer and more sustainable society.
The power of nature
With its diverse natural landscapes, and habitats supporting tens of thousands of plant and animal species, Scotland is uniquely positioned to lead the charge in combating and adapting to climate change. As part of our biodiversity and climate commitments, we have increasing woodland creation targets that reach 18,000 hectares per year by 2029/30, with a vision to expand Scotland's woodlands to cover 21% of the nation's land area by 2032.
We are also making good progress on restoring degraded and drained peatlands back to functioning ecosystems and we have committed to restore over 400,000 hectares of peatland by 2040. This reduces the carbon that peatlands release and enables them to once again absorb carbon from the atmosphere. Not only do restored peatlands act as natural carbon capture and storage systems, they also benefit wildlife such as dragonflies and birds, can build climate resilience by reducing the risk of flooding and wildfire and improving the quality of water in our burns, rivers and lochs.
In 2019, the Scottish Government was invited by the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to lead a consultation with local and regional bodies on their role in addressing the biodiversity crisis.
This culminated in the Edinburgh Declaration which called for a dedicated decision and a renewed Plan of Action on Subnational Governments. Over 300 sub-national governments signed the Declaration, which was subsequently adopted by the Convention at their CoP15 meeting in December 2022 – recognising for the first time the role of local, regional and sub-state authorities in taking vital action for biodiversity.
We are continuing to raise the international profile of the localised action we are taking in Scotland, through our memberships of Regions4 (regions4.org) and the CBD Advisory Committee for Subnational Government.
The Scottish biodiversity strategy to 2045 (gov.scot) sets out goals to halt nature loss by 2030 and reverse it by 2045. It also provides a long-term vision of what our natural environment needs to look like in 2045 to reverse biodiversity decline. The strategy is supported by the first in a series of rolling delivery plans, the Scottish biodiversity delivery plan 2024-2030 (gov.scot). Alongside statutory targets for nature conservation, these publications form our strategic framework for biodiversity. We are also committed to expanding and improving areas managed for nature, including protected areas, with an ambitious commitment to protect 30% of our land for nature by 2030.