Seòmar agus comataidhean

Forestry is a major land use in Scotland for positive economic, social and environmental outcomes. Forests and woodland are some of the most biodiverse habitats in Scotland. Scotland’s forests are for example home to 172 priority species including pine marten, Scottish Crossbill, black grouse and 75% of the UK red squirrel population.

All our woodlands of all types - be it productive broadleaved, conifer, native or mixed - have the potential to contribute to biodiversity gain in Scotland. The UK Forestry Standard sets out the requirements and guidelines to achieve this. In Scotland, we are currently creating nearly 75% of all the new woodland in the UK. In 2023/24 Scotland created 15,000 ha which was the highest level in 34 years. Native woodland planting, with biodiversity outcomes as a primary objective, was at 7,700 ha which was the highest since 2001.

Degraded peatlands emit rather than capture and store carbon and lose the unique and biodiverse ecosystems they host when in good condition. That is why this government has committed £250 million to restore 250,000 hectares of degraded peatlands by 2030 as an essential element of mitigating and adapting to the linked climate and nature emergencies.

Through our flagship Peatland ACTION programme, we are making good progress towards that target. To date we have put around 90,000 hectares of degraded peat on the road to recovery including almost 15,000 hectares in 2024-25 alone – the highest amount in any single year and more than 40% up on the previous year.

Every hectare of peatland restored locks up the carbon it contains, reducing its contribution to climate change which is driving some biodiversity loss across Scotland. The rewetting, revegetating and reprofiling carried out during restoration also benefits nature directly by reinstating lost habitats and species and increasing the resilience of these wetland ecosystems to future climate change.

Integrating peatland protection, management and restoration within farming, crofting and other land uses brings benefits for climate, for nature and for people.

Scotland’s resilience to acute food security challenges comes largely from its diversity of supply. Scotland’s food and farming sectors have a critical role to play in Scotland’s food security, producing food for consumption in Scotland, and increasing our economic resilience through exports of food and drink.

I refer the member to our recently published Climate Change Plan Update Monitoring Report for 2025, which shows our progress against the individual policies in the agriculture and land use sectors.

The most recent Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics from 2022 show that, compared to the 1990 baseline, emissions in land use are down 96.3% and agriculture is down 11.9%. The Climate Change Committee’s recent carbon budget advice to the Scottish Government projects that agriculture will form a part of our residual emissions to 2045, to be offset by land use sinks and engineered removals.

The Scottish Government is committed to providing support and guidance to the agricultural sector to adopt low-carbon farming practices, while meeting the changing needs of farmers and crofters. This includes financial support for carbon audits, soil testing, and animal health and welfare measures through the Preparing for Sustainable Farming initiative.

Scotland’s Farm Advisory Service, The Monitor Farm Programme, Agri-Environment Climate Scheme, and Integrating Trees Network offer financial support, provide practical advice, guidance, and skill development opportunities while showcasing the positive impacts of taking action to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Our small and tenant farmers are also able to access this.

Skills, knowledge, training, and Continuing Professional Development for our agricultural sector will be a key component of the Tier 4 complementary support in the Vision of Agriculture support package beyond 2025, which will come into effect on 1 April 2027 and work continues to develop this.

The Scottish Government is committed to supporting a sustainable future for our livestock sector - one that reduces emissions while maintaining high-quality food production and rural livelihoods. We are investing in a just transition that helps farmers adopt low-emission practices without simply offshoring our environmental responsibilities through increased imports of high-emission meat and dairy.

However, trade is reserved to the UK Government, and recent UK trade deals risk seriously undermining Scottish producers by allowing imports of food produced to different environmental, animal welfare and food safety standards. These agreements threaten to undercut our farmers and increase the consumption of products with a higher carbon footprint. It is deeply disappointing that neither the current nor previous UK Governments consulted the Scottish Government or undertook any impact assessment that reflected Scotland’s specific circumstances - despite our repeated calls for this. Scotland’s agriculture sector faces unique challenges and must be fully considered when trade deals are negotiated. We will continue to press the UK Government to properly consider the needs of Scottish agriculture and to protect the high standards our farmers and consumers expect.

The Scottish Government promotes and facilitates the procurement of healthy, fresh and seasonal produce in contracts for food and catering to support our vision of Scotland as a Good Food Nation.

The Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, proposes a range of opportunities to increase the quality and provenance of food and drink procured.

The Act legislates for a number of levers to achieve delivery of the Scottish Government food and drink policy including the sustainable procurement duty where public bodies have a legal duty to take account of how they can improve the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of their area through their procurement activities.

National procurement policy with respect to the climate emergency is set out in Scottish Procurement Policy Note 3/2022 Public procurement - taking account of climate and circular economy considerations. The policy highlights that public bodies should use their public procurement spend to support climate and circular economy ambitions, and signposts sources of support to embed this policy in practice which include the Scottish Government funded Sustainable Procurement Tools which host tools, guidance, case studies and climate and circular economy e-learning.

According to information provided by 107 public bodies in their annual procurement reports for 2022-23, examples of the ways in which environmental wellbeing and climate change were addressed through procurement included: environmental criteria in procurement exercises, using climate action plan templates, and encouraging staff to complete climate literacy eLearning.

The Scottish Government has committed to co-design the development of future support structures and delivery with rural partners. It is right that we take the time necessary to develop the detail of our policies with the people directly affected by them, which is important if we are to deliver on our commitment to a just transition for our farmers and crofters.

This work is being undertaken within the Agricultural Reform Programme and activity includes stakeholder, customer and public communications and engagement, interviews, surveys, workshops, user testing and trials.

The Agricultural Reform Route Map publicly outlines the phased transition from legacy Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) support into the new four-tier framework. It currently sets out the detailed changes for 2025 alongside initial information on the proposed changes for 2026. The Scottish Government has committed to keep the Route Map updated, as additional detail becomes available.

In 2024 our Agricultural Reform Programme Road Show visited 26 events across the country, to talk directly to farmers and crofters about the changes and we will continue to attend shows and markets in 2025. On 2 June 2025, we wrote to everyone that had submitted a Single Application Form this year, to let them know about changes to agricultural support that are coming in 2026. The Scottish Government also funds the Farm Advisory Service, which has also promoted the changes to farmers and crofters, including through in person and online events, podcasts and videos.

The Scottish Government is grateful for the latest advice from the Climate Change Committee on Scotland’s Carbon Budgets.

We will carefully consider the Committee’s advice before bringing forward regulations to set carbon budget levels for Scotland. This will include consideration of the target setting criteria set out under the act, and an assessment of whether the pace of decarbonisation is appropriate for people, sectors and businesses across Scotland. Any carbon budgets proposed via secondary legislation must provide an achievable pathway to net zero in 2045.

Work is ongoing on the development of the next Climate Change Plan which will cover the period 2026-2040. Parliament will be updated once the new timetable for the next Climate Change Plan is finalised. The forthcoming Climate Change Plan will outline policies and proposals which will set out in further detail how we intend to deliver action to tackling climate change across all key areas of the economy, including land use. It will, of course, be subject to all necessary impact assessments to ensure rural and island interests are fully considered.

The Scottish Government is fully committed to continuing to support our agricultural industry with both the core role of sustainable food production and in terms of integrated land use, we are also in the process of developing our Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition Plan. This plan will focus on the wider livelihoods, skills, health, and wellbeing of those who live in and rely on Scotland’s land and agricultural sector for their livelihoods and wellbeing, as well as focusing on supporting thriving rural and island communities.

The Climate Change Committee’s projection of a 36% reduction in cattle and sheep numbers by 2045 is based on UK-wide dietary modelling and does not reflect Scotland-specific market dynamics. The Scottish Government has no policy to reduce livestock numbers and is committed to supporting the sector to improve productivity, resilience and emissions intensity.

Alongside exploring options such as improved breeding and methane-reducing feed products, the Scottish Government is supporting rural communities to integrate new income streams alongside existing farming enterprises, including through tree planting and bioenergy crops.

We are also investing £40 million annually through the Scottish Suckler Beef Support Scheme to help improve beef herd efficiency, implementing calving interval conditionality. This support enables farmers to reduce emissions intensity while maintaining production – ensuring that high-quality Scottish beef continues to be produced sustainably..