Climate Change Minister Stewart Stevenson last night called on world leaders to up their ambition on climate change.

Speaking at the Northern Regions Climate Change Summit, the Minister said that if all countries showed greater ambition then the promised cuts in emissions would help the world avert dangerous climate change.

Mr Stevenson said: "Scotland is already taking a lead on climate change, but more countries must show their hand and make that all-important top level commitment to reducing emissions.

"Northern nations like Scotland and Norway are already taking a lead. And if we can do it, then the rest of the world can follow our example and make the changes needed to address the challenge of climate change and deliver the economic benefits a low carbon future."

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He continued: "It is clear that we will need to harness low carbon technologies to respond to the challenge of climate change and keep the pledge made in Copenhagen to limit the increase in global temperatures to 2C.

"Scotland is showing the way on renewables development. Recent progress includes the Crown Estate unveiling plans to develop almost 5GW of offshore wind energy off the country's east coast. A recent Scottish Enterprise report identified a priority list of Scottish sites for renewables development, showing opportunities for investment spread right across the country."

The Wilton Park Northern Regions Conference was arranged in partnership between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Norway and with support from the Canadian International Centre for the Arctic Region (CICAR). Wilton Park has been influencing international decision-making for six decades through "off the record" residential conferences. As an agency of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Wilton Park brings together opinion-formers from around the world to address the most pressing global issues.

(GK/BMcC)