A Climate Change Plan (CCP) is a document which outlines how the Scottish Government intends to meet emissions reduction targets across all portfolio areas and sectors of the economy.

The next Plan will cover the period 2026-2040 as Scotland looks to be ‘net zero’ in carbon emissions by 2045. Net zero is the point when emissions entering the atmosphere are balanced by removals out of the atmosphere.  

The Scottish Government laid a draft Climate Change Plan on 6 November 2025.

Draft Climate Change Plan

The last full CCP was in 2018, with a Climate Change Plan update published in 2021.

Climate Change Plan 2018

Climate Change Plan 2021 update

This follows the Scottish Parliament’s approval of regulations which set five-year carbon budgets - limits on the amount of greenhouse gas which can legally be emitted over a given time. The CCP seeks to meet the reduction targets set out in the regulations for the period 2026-2040.

Alongside setting out how the Scottish Government intends to meet emissions reduction targets, the CCP must also set out the costs and benefits of policies it proposes, whilst taking into consideration the principles of a Just Transition - that the switch to net zero should reduce not increase social injustice.  

Scrutiny of the draft CCP will be a cross-parliamentary effort involving several committees, reflecting the fact that climate change impacts across all sectors.

In its scrutiny, the Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee has agreed to focus on the contribution that residential and public buildings can make to achieving emission targets, and the wider implications of the plan for local authorities in Scotland.

The Plan must be laid in draft in the Scottish Parliament until 5 March. During this time, Committees have the opportunity to scrutinise and report on the aspects of the Plan which fall under their remit. The Scottish Government must take the views presented to it on the draft Plan into account when producing the final Plan. The Scottish Government has committed to publishing its final Climate Change Plan before the dissolution of Parliament for the 2026 election.