Public Bodies Climate Change Reporting 2020/21
The Scottish Government has funded Sustainable Scotland Network to manage public bodies reporting for 2020/21. Below is key information and guidance produced by SSN to support public bodies completing annual climate change reports required by the ‘Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies; Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015’.
Access the SSN 2020/21 Summary Analysis Report here.
The analysis report presents summary analysis and key findings from public sector bodies’ annual reports for the reporting period 2020/21. This is the 6th reporting period since mandatory reporting began in 2015/16.
Background
Scotland’s unique public bodies reporting duty has been widely credited with driving climate action, tracking progress across the sector in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving climate resilience and encouraging sustainable delivery of public sector services and functions. Public sector bodies play a key role in meeting Scotland’s ambitious climate target and have a statutory duty to cut greenhouse gas emissions, prepare for the impacts of climate change and act sustainably.
The Climate Change (Duties of Public Bodies: Reporting Requirements) (Scotland) Order 2015 requires listed public bodies (major players due to size of staff, estate and/or ability to influence via funding, regulation, licensing etc.) to report annually on their compliance with the above duties.
- Profile of the body – e.g. budget and staff numbers
- Climate change governance, management and strategy
- Corporate emissions, projects and targets
- Adaptation – including risk assessments and management
- Procurement – how goods and services are managed to help meet targets and minimise impacts from climate risks.
- Validation of report data and information
Subsequent amendments in 2020 introduced additional reporting requirements including net zero targets and alignment of spend and resources with those targets. Some additional bodies were also added to the Schedule 1 list. These changes took effect from April 2021 for all annual reports due by 30th November 2022.
Reports from previous years can be found below.