Overview of the Act and General Notes Interpretation Part 1: Emissions Reduction Targets Background to, and general effect of, sections 1 and 2
8.Prior to being amended by sections 1 and 2 of the Act, Part 1 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 (as modified by the Climate Change (Emissions Reduction Targets) (Scotland) Act 2019) set out statutory targets for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to Scotland. It provided for 3 types of target:
	The ultimate target was the net-zero emissions target (set by section A1 of the 2009 Act), which was that the net Scottish emissions account for the net-zero emissions target year will be 100% lower than the baseline level (see paragraph 10 below for the meaning of “net Scottish emissions account” and “baseline”). At the time these Notes were prepared, the net-zero emissions target year was 2045 (the Scottish Ministers have a power to change the target year by regulations).
	Interim targets were set for 2020, 2030 and 2040 by section 2 of the 2009 Act. The interim targets were that the net Scottish emissions account for each of those years be a certain percentage lower than the baseline level.
	Annual targets were set by section 3 of the 2009 Act. These were targets for each year leading up to the net-zero emissions target year (excluding years for which an interim target was set). The target for each year was that the net Scottish emissions account for the year be a percentage lower than the baseline level, with that percentage calculated by evenly distributing across the years between the last interim target and the next higher-level target (i.e. the next interim target, or the net-zero emissions year target) the percentage point change in emission levels needed to meet that next higher-level target.
9.Sections 1 and 2 of the Act replace that system of 3 types of target with a new targets system. The net-zero emissions target is unchanged as the ultimate target. But the interim targets and the annual targets are replaced with the concept of the Scottish carbon budget target. Whereas interim and annual targets were concerned with emissions levels for a particular year, a Scottish carbon budget target is concerned with emissions levels over the period for which the budget is set (which will typically be 5 years).
10.Key to understanding the system of emissions reduction targets (both the old one and the new one created by the Act) are the following concepts:
	The net Scottish emissions account (defined by section 13 of the 2009 Act) describes the volume of greenhouse gas emissions (modified by permitted credits and debits of carbon units) by reference to which the assessment is made of whether the targets are being met.
	The baseline (defined by section 11 of the 2009 Act) is the level of greenhouse gas emissions relative to which the assessment is made of the percentage by which the net Scottish emissions account has changed over a period.
11.The principal ways in which emissions reduction targets are legally significant are as follows:
	The Scottish Ministers have a duty to ensure the targets are met. These duties arise from the section of the 2009 Act that creates the target in question.
	The Scottish Ministers have duties to keep the Scottish Parliament informed about whether the targets are being met. Those duties arise, principally, from the following provisions of the 2009 Act: section 9, section 33, section 34A (which is inserted by section 2 of the Act, see paragraph 36 below) and section 35B (which is relevantly modified by section 9 of the Act, see paragraph 64 below).
	The Scottish Ministers have a duty to publish plans for meeting the targets. The duty arises from section 35 of the 2009 Act, which requires that the climate change plan that it obliges the Scottish Ministers to produce periodically set out their proposals and policies for meeting the targets that fall within the period covered by the plan.
	All Scottish public authorities (as defined by section 3(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002) have a duty to exercise their functions in a way best calculated to contribute to the delivery of the targets. This is one of the climate change duties of those authorities under section 44 of the 2009 Act, in relation to which further provision is made by the rest of Part 4 of the 2009 Act.