The average carbon footprint of Scottish households has fallen by around a quarter since the Scottish Climate Change Act was introduced in 2009.

That’s according to recent government statistics which show since this time, carbon emissions per person have fallen from 2.46 to 1.84 tonnes.

WWF Scotland has praised the climate change legislation for encouraging the adoption of cleaner methods of powering and heating homes.

In an analysis of the data, the charity found the rate of decrease differed between local authority areas, with Highland seeing the largest drop in emissions at 30.3% and West Lothian recording the smallest at 21.6%.

Gina Hanrahan, Acting Head of Policy at the charity, said: “These figures show that individuals across Scotland and governments at every level have played a part in cutting the climate damage of our home energy usage.

“A new Climate Change Bill this year is an opportunity to double down on our commitments to make our homes more energy efficient, to increase the use of renewables to heat homes and put Scotland on the path to a zero carbon future.”