Current status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 2 December 2025
To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide information on its policy regarding the use of revenue collected from the Scottish Government carbon levy on business flights, including (a) the objectives of the levy, (b) the criteria and process for selecting carbon reduction projects on the core estate to be funded from the levy, (c) the governance and oversight arrangements for managing the levy funds, including which directorates are responsible, (d) how often the rate and operation of the levy have been reviewed since its introduction and (e) what changes have been made as a result of any such reviews.
(a) The objectives of the levy
The levy is designed to raise money from business flights to be invested in carbon reduction and active travel projects to reduce the impact of business travel and improve health and wellbeing.
In 2018 the Cabinet Secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform approved a proposal to focus the money raised from the levy to reduce the Scottish Government’s carbon emissions to help compensate for the carbon emitted from business travel, which was the original purpose of the Levy. This has the benefit of reducing the Scottish Government’s carbon emissions in a measurable and reportable way.
(b) Projects are selected based on the potential for carbon reduction either via fully or partially funding projects, funding behaviour change initiatives, training or promoting active travel options.
(c) The carbon levy is administered by the Environmental Management Team within Workplace Division in the Scottish Procurement & Property Directorate.
(d) The rate of the carbon levy has not been reviewed since it was created in 2009. Officials are currently carrying out a review. The operation of the levy was reviewed in 2018.
(e) A review is currently underway. No changes have been made to the rates since the levy was introduced. The review in 2018 resulted in a change to the way the levy was spent. Agreement was given to support using the levy to fund carbon reduction projects on the Core Scottish Government Estate.