Conservatives to unveil green policy push

The Conservatives will today unveil arguably the most ambitious set of environmental commitments from a mainstream party, pledging to cut government carbon emissions by 10 per cent within a year of taking up residence in Downing Street if it wins the next election.

In a move designed to end speculation that the Conservatives have been wavering on the environmental agenda which defined David Cameron's first year as Tory leader, senior front bench figures will outline a wide-ranging package of green proposals including plans for a national green investment bank and innovative recycling schemes that pay households to recycle.

Central to the new package will be a commitment to sign up to the high-profile 10:10 campaign, which asks individuals to cut emissions 10 per cent and businesses to cut emissions by three per cent within a year.

Last month the Commons voted against a Liberal Democrat proposal to sign up the government to the campaign, with the government arguing the target was unfeasible. But shadow chancellor George Osborne is expected to tell an audience at Imperial College London later today that a Conservative government would sign up to the campaign and attempt to cut emissions by 10 per cent, saving £300m a year in energy bills in the process.

He is expected to announce that the Conservatives will appoint Ian Livingston of BT, David North of Tesco and Ian Cheshire of B&Q – all of whom have led their companies' efforts to curb emissions – to advise on meeting the new target, while government departments will be required to report on their energy use online in a move designed to "hold ministers and civil servants to account for their carbon footprint".

Significantly, Osborne will also pledge to ensure that the Treasury leads many of the Conservatives' environmental initiatives, drawing a distinction between the chancellor Alistair Darling's apparent failure to give a single speech on the environment since taking the role.

"When it comes to environmental policy, the Treasury has often been at best indifferent, at worst obstructive," he will say. "How telling that Alistair Darling has not given a single major speech on the environment in the two and a half years since he became chancellor. That attitude is going to change if the government changes. I want a Conservative Treasury to be in the lead of developing the low-carbon economy and financing a green recovery."

It is a commitment designed to appeal to many within the green business and renewable energy industry who have long complained that the Treasury has been a "roadblock" for low-carbon initiatives. Jonathon Porritt accused the Treasury of "startling arrogance" when he stepped down from his role as chair of the Sustainable Development Commission earlier this year, while others within the industry have been equally forthright in their criticism of Number 11.

"DECC [the Department of Energy and Climate Change] are sympathetic and understand the arguments, but the Treasury seems unconvinced," said the managing director of one leading renewable energy firm. "A new and exciting domestic industry is apparently much less interesting to them than buying in French nuclear reactors."

In addition to the 10:10 pledge, Osborne will announce plans for a green investment bank designed to consolidate all the low-carbon funding schemes currently offered by the government in one place, and green ISAs that would allow individuals to ensure their savings are invested only in low-carbon businesses.

In a move designed to appeal to voters, he will also announce plans to replace bin taxes nationwide with a recycling incentive scheme that offers households shopping vouchers in return for their recycling. The scheme has already been trialled by the Tory council in Windsor and Maidenhead where recycling levels have increased 30 per cent as a result.

Councils will be expected to pay for the scheme through the savings in landfill tax that will result from higher recycling rates. Osborne will also say that as part of his first Budget, he would announce minimum rates for landfill tax through to 2020 to help councils plan the rollout of the initiative.

Energy and climate change minister Ed Miliband criticised the Conservatives' proposals, telling the Guardian that they had not been properly costed. "This so-called greening involved no new money," he said. "The truth is the Tories opposed Labour's extra public investment, including the £400m allocated at the time of the Budget for new green industries. So why should anyone believe a piece of greenwash from Osborne?"