Scotland has set itself the world's most ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets after the Scottish parliament voted on 24 June to cut the nation's CO2 emissions by 42% by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050, "following a huge push by Scottish campaigners including Caritas member Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund (SCIAF), the public statement on 26 June stated.
Chris Hegarty, SCIAF's Advocacy Manager said, "The Scottish Parliament has voted for legislation that will be held up as an example to European and world governments ahead of the UN's climate change talks in Copenhagen in December to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
"Uniquely, Scotland's targets are guided by science as opposed to political expediency. They are based on what we have to do, rather than what we feel we can do. This is a positive and rational response to a global challenge, and we are calling on governments across the world to follow suit.
Scotland's Climate Change Minister Stewart Stevenson said, "Climate Change is the most serious threat we face. The Scottish government is responding with the most ambitious and comprehensive climate change legislation anywhere in the world.
"As a country we are leading global action and expect others to follow our lead as we look to the international summit in Copenhagen this December.
"Setting ambitious targets is not an end in itself. It is delivery that matters and we have set out the steps we will take to deliver the scale of emissions reductions needed to safeguard our future and to position Scotland as frontrunner in developing a sustainable low-carbon economy."
Another applause also came from the campaign coalition 'Stop Climate Chaos Scotland,' which claims its 60 member organisations representing two million people, said this is "hugely significant" vote set a new "moral" standard for the rest of the industrialised world.
The new legislation, which also includes counting emissions from aviation and shipping, sets an example to world governments ahead of December's UN's climate talks in Copenhagen in December that strong action on climate change can and must be taken.
The measures are tougher than the 34% target set in the UK government's climate change act last year, which has no statutory annual targets.
It comes the day after the US stated that a 40% cut by 2020 was "not on the cards": developing nations have demanded this level of cut from rich nations.
A few days later, on June 26, in a landmark move U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that will allow force cuts in domestic greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 percent in 2020 and 83 percent in 2050 through an expensive cap-and-trade permit system on heavy emitters and the oil and gas industry.
Chris Hegarty said, "Countries such as China, India and many other developing nations are demanding that wealthy countries in Europe take strong action to reduce their own emissions and do not seek to off-load their responsibilities to poorer countries through carbon trading.
"Caritas and SCIAF are already seeing the devastating impact that climate change is having on poor communities in developing countries with increased droughts, floods, and changing seasonal weather patterns," he added.
Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 162 Catholic relief, development and social service organizations and its member in Scotland - SCIAF have been advocating for greener world.
Hegarty said, "As Scotland has shown, it is possible for wealthy governments to take the strong action if they are sincere in addressing the problem."
"All governments have a moral responsibility to address this problem before it gets much worse."