This is largely blamed on the boom in air travel and number of vehicles on the roads, about 26 million, a figure that rises by half a million a year. Exhaust fumes are one of the main reasons why the emissions goal has not been reached. Another is that utility companies have switched from gas to coal.

It is particularly embarrassing because the Prime Minister wants climate change to be the priority for both his presidency of next year’s G8 summit and the European Union. His 20 per cent target was also a commitment in the 1997 and 2001 election manifestos.

It gave the Opposition and environmental organisations an easy platform to mock the Government’s efforts to lead the world’s clean up. Britain is, however, on course to meet the 12.5 per cent cuts in greenhouse gases agreed as part of the Kyoto protocol and Mr Blair said the country should be proud that it was one of the few in the world to meet its international obligations. But Sir David King, the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser, said that even the most ambitious targets may not be enough to avert the worst effects of global warming.

By 2050 carbon dioxide emissions might have to be cut by 80 per cent to avoid catastrophic events such as the Greenland ice sheet melting, he said, with a 2C to 2.5C increase in temperature that would raise sea levels by more than 20 feet and put London under water.

Heatwave summers such as last year could become a regular event, he said. Although many people enjoyed it, 30,000 people died, and it was the hottest since the 15th century.

Ministers had been confident that the UK could do much better in reducing emissions and so had imposed the higher standards. The shortfall set off a flurry of ministerial activity yesterday in an effort to make up lost ground. A formal review of the UK climate change programme was started with new initiatives to promote energy efficiency and greener attitudes by industry and the public. The Government’s commitment for more action was also apparent with three Cabinet ministers at a meeting of green campaigners and industry groups.

Margaret Beckett, Environment Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, Trade and Industry Secretary, and Alastair Darling, Transport Secretary, called for greater efforts to reduce carbon emissions by improving public transport, investing in biomass and biofuels and for extra energy savings in homes and businesses. More incentives for cleaner cars and greener homes are almost certainly on the agenda.

They defended the expansion of runways to meet increased demand for air flights, but it is seems inevitable that aviation is to be made to pay as well. Environmental experts last night suggested that the policy review was as much a wake-up call to all other government departments, public bodies and local authorities as to consumers. One said: “It’s a desperate attempt to get some joined-up thinking across Whitehall.”

Consumers too are to be on the frontline of the fight against climate change. A new website “Environment Direct”, like the popular NHS Direct, is to be developed to help people “to think and act green”.

Ministers are in talks with supermarkets to boost their recycling stations and for users to be rewarded with discount cards. New houses are to be more strictly monitored for energy saving devices.

Local authorities are also being urged to boost recycling in their own areas and to persuade households to segregate their waste. Some £255 million today is to be allocated to English councils as part of the purge on waste.

Defra is also to take lead inside Government to offset the air miles (therefore carbon emissions) travelled by Ministers and civil servants on official business. This will done by investing in projects that will reduce greenhouse gases, such as biocooking stoves in Nepal or solar home systems in Bangladesh. Mrs Beckett wants other departments to sign up to similar schemes.

Greener farming practices will also help to reduce emissions as part of reform of the common agriculture policy.

Tim Yeo, Shadow Environment spokesman, said the Government was “all talk” on greenhosue emissions.

The Confederation of British Industry urged the Government not to make British business “a lone crusader” on climate change and said that business leaders were tired of “being the only ones to carry the can”.John Cridland, deputy director general, said industry had cut carbon emissions by 6 per cent between 1990 and 2003, while during the same period household emissions were up by 10 per cent and those from traffic up by 4.6 per cent.

Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth, said: “The UK climate change programme is the last chance for the Government to demonstrate it is serious about taking a lead in tackling climate change. But time is running out.

“If it fails to make significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, the Prime Minister’s ability to persuade other countries to take the issue seriously will be seriously undermined.”

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