The masthead of The Scotsman turned green as the newspaper teamed up with the Scottish Government to get people to take ten environmental pledges.

The Scotsman is working with the Scottish Government to push the message in forthcoming weeks, with stories appearing under the campaign logo “Let’s Go Green Together”.

It was only the second time in its history the masthead had been changed in support of a campaign – the other was publication of The Scotswoman in the 1990s.

The Scotsman and the Scottish Government have set up websites to record people’s pledges to join the campaign, which will give an idea how many people are taking part and which of the ten pledges prove popular and which attract less interest.

The paper hopes that this, in turn, should help the government change policies to make it easier to go green and the newspaper to highlight issues of concern.

Editor Mike Gilson said: “The change of our masthead’s colour is a sign of how seriously this newspaper takes this issue. It is time for the people of Scotland to pull together and say with one voice ‘Let’s go green’.

“I think many people now believe we need to take steps to address the threat posed by global warming but are uncertain about what to do, how they can really make a difference.

“The ten pledges provide a manifesto for change that we can all at least aspire to. Some are harder than others, but if everyone in Scotland was to fulfil at least one pledge, that would make a real difference. The important thing is for everyone to try, to do their best.”