Brown puts green at heart of government's relaunch

Despite his reputation for being sceptical about the political merits of environmental policies, prime minister Gordon Brown is making the transition to a low-carbon economy a central component of efforts to revive his government.

Setting out his new legislative programme in parliament yesterday, Brown presented a raft of new and previously announced green commitments that together are expected to create 400,000 new jobs by 2017, taking the number of people employed in the UK's low-carbon industry to over one million.

As part of a wide-ranging programme, Brown confirmed plans to build up to four commercial scale carbon capture and storage (CCS) plants, promote up to £100m in renewable energy investment by 2020, and rollout broadband to all homes by 2012.

He also rubber-stamped proposals for a strategy to develop new electrified railway lines capable of cutting carbon emissions by a third, and a formal feasibility study on plans for a new high-speed rail network.

The move was welcomed by rail operator Network Rail, which is undertaking its own studies into electrification and the development of new high-speed lines. " There is a strong environmental and business case for more electrified lines, and we strongly welcome the government's commitment in this area," said a spokesman for the company.

David Cameron, the Conservative leader, branded the government's new agenda as heavily reliant on previously announced initiatives and said the new Building Britain's Future strategy amounted to a "package without a price tag".

However, alongside the expected announcements on CCS, rail and renewables, the document also included a number of new green proposals, including plans for a new £150m Innovation Fund which Brown said would "over time lever in up to £1bn of private sector investment in biotechnology, life sciences, low-carbon technologies and advanced manufacturing".

Similarly, there was a green tinge to proposals for a new body called Infrastructure UK, which will be tasked with improving the efficiency with which large-scale infrastructure projects, such as wind farms, marine energy developments and grid improvements, are taken forward.

Plans to improve the rail network were also accompanied by the announcement that the government is to introduce new incentives to accelerate the rollout of low-carbon buses and develop a new National Cycling Plan to encourage commuters to cycle to work.

Meanwhile, the commitment to treble investment in housing to £2.1bn included a target to deliver 20,000 additional energy efficient affordable homes over the next two years.

Stephen Joseph, executive director at Campaign for Better Transport gave a cautious welcome to the new proposals, but warned that without efforts to curb new road building plans many of the environmental benefits delivered through high speed rail and cycling would be quickly lost.

"On the ground, many local councils continue to plan expensive and destructive road schemes and, in places like Manchester, are paying for them by cutting funds for cycling, walking and local safety projects," he said. "The Government is about to decide on regional funding bids which include almost £4bn for new roads. If Ministers accept these bids and continue to widen motorways, cycling, public transport and active travel will continue to be undermined and starved of the funds needed."