Plans 'missed climate opportunity'

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Some public spending programmes put forward run the risk of locking the world into a future of continued greenhouse gas emissions, the study commissioned by environmental charity WWF and the low-carbon group E3G found.

The report accused Britain of "entirely neglecting the potential for investment in renewables".

Its also said Gordon Brown's £20 billion fiscal stimulus package would have a negative impact overall in the fight against climate change because it includes £500 million investment in roads.

The report came as trade unions, environmentalists, faith groups and charities campaigning under the banner Put People First renewed their calls for the G20 leaders to agree to an overhaul of the global economy to promote jobs, social justice and the climate.

Barbara Stocking, Oxfam chief executive, said: "The world cannot afford attempts to return to 'business as usual'. Nor should differences between rich countries be used as an excuse for inaction. Millions of already-poor men, women and children are becoming much more vulnerable, with many pushed to the edges of destitution."

The report, compiled for WWF and E3G by Ecofys and Germanwatch, analyses the fiscal stimulus packages put forward by the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the US and the European Union in response to the global recession, involving many billions of pounds of state investment in infrastructure.

By offsetting investment in low-carbon developments against money going into potentially carbon-intensive activities, it aims to determine the overall impact of each country's programme on global warming.

It found that of the 1.1 trillion US dollars (£770 billion) worth of stimulus packages analysed, the "effectiveness-adjusted climate-friendly expenditure" amounts to just 73 billion dollars (£51 billion) - or 6.6% of the total.

The countries giving highest priority to green measures were the US and Germany, but their investment totalled only around 0.5% of GDP, compared to the 1-3% thought necessary to keep global temperature rises below two degrees Celsius, said the report.