Government has "missed a trick"

Gordon Brown's government has failed to spot the need for cutting emissions from existing homes, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has suggested.

Lucy Bertenshaw, a senior campaigns officer at the organisation, has claimed that the state has made a lot of "strong commitments" about new builds but the majority of Britain's properties will be unaffected by the proposals.

Ms Bertenshaw forecast that there is still "a long way to go" and the government's plans for all new builds to be carbon neutral will be a "tough challenge" for the building industry.

The campaigns officer added that the government "has missed a trick" when it comes to existing stock and encouraging homeowners to renovate their own properties to make them greener.

"By 2030, 85 per cent of our homes will be existing homes so the majority of homes are ones that have already been built," she added.

Earlier this year, the Construction Products Association said that more land was needed in order for the state to meet its own aim of building 240,000 new carbon-neutral homes per year.