It is not every day “the Governator” heaps praise on something Scotland does. But last week Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, eulogised the Scottish government’s historic decision to impose the toughest targets for reducing carbon emissions of any developed nation.

Schwarzenegger said that Scotland’s move, which secured unanimous support from MSPs on Wednesday, sent a clear message to other nations ahead of the UN’s climate change conference in December.

“Scotland’s ambitious and comprehensive targets encourage other nations to step up to the plate as we look toward an international agreement in Copenhagen, and it sends a message to the world that we must act now and must act swiftly,” he said.

With its climate change bill, the government will impose very demanding targets on Scotland’s private sector, public sector and citizens.

They include cutting carbon emissions by 42% (compared with their 1990 levels) by 2020, and by 80% by 2050, as well as ensuring that all Scotland’s electricity is generated from low-carbon sources (including renewables, clean coal and carbon capture) by 2030. The legislation also contains proposals for tighter building regulations, the electrification of all Scotland’s railways, enhanced insulation programmes and new efforts to promote the adoption of electric vehicles.

Paul Nelson, managing director of Allied Vehicles, a Glasgow-based manufacturer of electric vans, minibuses and taxis, welcomed the Scottish government’s targets. “We are keen to support any initiative like this,” he said.

Allied Vehicles is part of the Peugeot Electric Cars project that last week won a share of the £25m the government is offering to design, test and produce 40 electric-battery cars in Glasgow.

Stewart Stevenson, Scotland’s climate change minister, said: “Achieving these targets will be challenging, but I’m confident that government, business and the people of Scotland are ready to rise to the challenge.”

Industrialists and business people broadly supported the move, with industries likely to thrive as a result thought to include low-carbon transport, renewable energy, carbon capture and microgeneration of energy (such as domestic wind turbines and solar panels).

The consensus is that countries that stick their necks out and make firm commitments to tackling climate change are more likely to become magnets for high-value green jobs — especially if, as a consequence of their targets, they become worldwide centres in low-carbon technologies such as wave and tidal power.

Economists also point out that research and development jobs in indigenous industries and emerging industries such as these are less likely to drift away to lower-cost destinations a few years down the line.

Ian Marchant, chief executive of Perth-based Scottish and Southern Energy and chairman of the Scottish Climate Change Business Delivery Group, said: “The whole point of having a target is to stretch and change behaviour. We need to reach a tipping point in our response to climate change, and quickly.”