NICOLA Sturgeon has called on developed nations to “pay our debt” to those on the front line of the climate crisis - labelling plans not to cough up $100 billion of promised annual funding to poorer nations until 2023 as “shameful”.

The First Minister told a COP26 event held by citizens from the Global Assembly that “there is no longer any excuse for inaction”, claiming that politicians including Boris Johnson and Joe Biden have arrived in Glasgow “knowing that they are not doing nearly enough”.

She said that COP26 “must be a turning point for the world”.

The First Minister pointed to $100 billion promised 12 years ago, to be paid every year by developed countries to those facing the impacts of the climate emergency. The cash was supposed to begin in 2020 but has still not materialised and is not due to be handed over until 2023.

Ms Sturgeon added: “This generation of leaders will not be forgiven, should not be forgiven, if there is not action taken over this next two weeks that lives up to the scale of the urgent challenge the world is facing.

“We must see more action on reducing the emissions gap, we must see more action in reducing the finance gap – it is shameful that a commitment to climate finance made 12 years ago, has not been met on schedule.

“It is not due to be met on current projections until 2023. That is not good enough.”

The First Minister pointed to ambitions to limit global warming to 1.5C, which she said was a “laudable aim” adding “it’s the bear minimum that anybody should expect”.

Ms Sturgeon said that developed countries “that have done so much to cause climate change”, must “step up and pay our debt to developing countries living with the impact”.

She warned that if that promised money does not materialise, “that failure will shame us all”.

The First Minister said that during COP26, “Scotland will seek to provide a bridge between those whose voices are all too rarely heard and those making decisions”.

She added: “When leaders like me listen to you, genuinely listen to people’s voices from across the world, then I believe that will and certainly should lead to fairer outcomes – and outcomes that are respected more by everybody whose lives are impacted by them.

“That concept of fairness, of justice, was at the heart of Scotland’s climate assembly – whose work was grounded in statute, in legislation- conducted entirely online because of the challenge of the Covid pandemic, but a climate assembly that involved children and young people as well as a broad spectrum of people from across our country.”