A renewed vision for Scotland

We all know that climate change is a clear danger. We can see the ice caps melting live before our eyes through web cams. We can watch mainstream TV programmes bringing the issue into every home.

The global challenge now is to make the progress we should have done when oil cost $10 a barrel, before that cost hits $100. Who would dare predict what the price will be in 10 or 20 years time?

The challenge for Scotland is no less important. We have the opportunity to do great things. We have the capacity to supply 25 per cent of Europe's wind energy and 25 per cent of its tidal energy. We have the potential, the world-class universities and research, and the skills and technology from the oil and gas industries, which can directly transfer to wind and tidal energy generation.

My job — and the challenge for all of us — is to ensure that we lay down the energy infrastructure for the 21st century, in the same way that those in the 19th century created the industrial and transport infrastructure they needed — and we still use.