Cleaner Air for Scotland 2 progress – what has changed? 

Progress report 

These annual progress reports serve as a way for the Scottish Government to provide official updates on how its clean air strategy is being delivered. Ten key policy areas are tracked – from transport and agriculture emissions to overall public awareness of air quality – to understand how Scotland is meeting its long-term goals, and what areas need priority action. 

2025’s progress report – the penultimate report until Scotland’s strategic plan for clean air reaches the end of its current phase – assesses regulatory progress and outcomes over the past year. 

Domestic combustion 

As with last year’s progress report, there are sections that identify ongoing actions relating to domestic progress in this year’s publication. 

Milestones for current actions are outlined in annex C of the report. These topics relate to various categories, including health, placemaking, behaviour change, industrial emissions regulation, tackling non-transport emissions, transport, and a further progress review. The further progress review will result in a new air quality framework being published next year, in 2026. 

Specific details of delivery milestones and this year’s progress can be found in the full report: 

Investigation into particulate matter apportionment is underway, successfully leading on from 2024’s progress which had conducted field sampling in an urban area (Edinburgh) and a rural area (Fife). An interim report is due in 2025 which is expected to assess the contribution of domestic combustion to PM2.5 across different areas in Scotland. 

The permitted development rights for flues for wood-burning stoves and biomass boilers was consulted on, with the consultation finished in August 2023. Work following the consultation is still being considered to look at how geographically targeted changes could impact air quality, but no new changes have occurred since this consideration was underway last year. 

Work to prevent the sale of the most polluting fuels, as mentioned in the Cleaner Air for Scotland 2, has yet to be actioned and aligned with legislation in England. Current work is said to be investigating the potential impacts that a ban on coal would have on rural and island communities and to ensure no one is left in fuel poverty. 

Stalled progress 

As stated in our previous examination of 2024’s progress report, aligning Scottish legislation with current legislation in England that bans the sale of the most polluting fuels is an essential step that must be taken without delay. 

News from the past year since the previous progress report in Scotland has created uncertainty, with Scottish actions being reversed. This emphasises the need for clear, swift, decisive action – with a ban on the most polluting fuels being the first step that has already been made across the border. 

Calvin May, HETAS Head of Technical Services, commented on this year’s progress report: 

This year’s progress report shows some important ongoing initiatives and I look forward to seeing the results of the apportionment studies. It is essential that we continue our positive progress to improve air quality across the UK, and Scotland’s understanding that there will be different challenges across different communities is an important distinction that must not be forgotten. 

“However, swifter action is needed. As we highlighted when examining 2024’s progress report, phasing out the sale of the most polluting fuels is a necessary step that must be taken – and one that would align Scotland with England’s current regulatory framework. 

The most recent annual emissions report from Defra demonstrates the success of various initiatives across the UK – including ‘The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020’ in England. This can be built upon using the proven, successful method of banning the sale most polluting fuels, such as house coal and wet wood in Scotland, too.