Scottish greenhouse gas emission rates ‘halved since 1990’
Government statistics show levels in 2016 were 49% below the 1990 baseline, with a 10.3% drop on the previous year.
Scotland
This archive collects solutions-journalism stories and progress milestones from Scotland — covering health, environment, community, policy, and more. Each entry highlights real developments worth knowing about.
Royal Bank of Scotland to stop financing new coal plants, oil sands or arctic oil projects
RBS said it would no longer directly finance new coal-fired power stations or thermal coal mines, oil sands or Arctic oil projects and unsustainable vegetation or peatland clearance projects.
Scotland sets target of cutting greenhouse gases by 90% by 2050
The Scottish government also said it would have a new interim target for 2020 of a 56 per cent cut compared with the existing goal of 42 per cent.
The Church of Scotland has voted to allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages
The Church of Scotland has voted to draft new laws that would allow ministers to conduct same-sex marriages.
The world’s first floating wind farm is now producing energy in Scotland
Hywind Scotland, situated in Buchan Deep, is the world’s first floating wind farm, with its five six-megawatt turbines now generating electricity.
Scottish government bans fracking after public opposition
Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse says allowing unconventional extraction of coal and gas would put climate goals at risk
Scotland to ‘phase out’ new petrol and diesel cars by 2032
Nicola Sturgeon outlined plans to “massively expand” charging points and set up pilot projects to encourage uptake of electric vehicles.
Church of Scotland apologizes for its historical discrimination against lesbian and gay people
The Kirk’s general assembly, meeting in Edinburgh, instructed officials to consider changes to church law that would allow ministers to preside over same-sex-marriage ceremonies.
James Blyth’s wind turbine powers the first home with wind electricity
Wind-powered electricity came home in the summer of 1887, when Scottish physics professor James Blyth raised a 10-metre cloth-sailed turbine in his Marykirk cottage garden. His lights came on; when he offered surplus power to the village for street lighting, neighbors refused, calling it the work of the devil. A quiet first, a century ahead of its time.
England and Scotland unite to form the Kingdom of Great Britain
The Acts of Union took effect on May 1, 1707, merging the kingdoms of England and Scotland into a single Kingdom of Great Britain with one parliament at Westminster. Scotland kept its own courts, church, and schools — a compromise that shaped how a shared state could hold distinct identities within it.