The Scottish Government has become the first administration in the world to produce a carbon assessment alongside its budget.

In a unique move, John Swinney, published the first Carbon Assessment of the Budget for 2010-2011 together with the draft economic budget brought to Parliament yesterday.

He said: "The Scottish Government recognises that climate change will have far reaching effects on Scotland's economy, its people and its environment and is determined to play its part in rising to this challenge.

"By publishing our Carbon Assessment of the Budget, we are taking a significant, and to some extent experimental, step towards recognising carbon implications in the Budget process."

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The assessment is based on the expenditure data presented in the Draft Budget and will be a statutory requirement of Scotland's world-leading Climate Change (Scotland) Act. It provides a high-level understanding of the impact of Scottish Budget expenditure on global greenhouse gas emissions and provides - for the first time - an understanding of the carbon impact of Government spend.

Mr Swinney said: "The Scottish Government is not aware of any other government in the world committed to delivering this work with their budgets and - once again - Scotland is proving to be a world leader in addressing climate change.

"It is vital to have analysis available to help inform critical decisions on how to take appropriate action during these challenging economic times. Preparing a Carbon Budget Assessment is a step forward in this process.

"It is essential we have an accurate picture of the global situation that demonstrates the extent of the challenge facing the modern world. The Scottish Government is committed to taking appropriate action to ensure we will reach our targets."

(GK/BMcC)