Jonathon Porritt, the chair of the UK Sustainable Development Commission, has accused the government of failing to provide enough incentives to the construction industry over climate change.

He said: “The government is hot on target-setting but it is not rewarding practice and attainment and expertise.

“It is not creating an environment in which innovative firms can thrive.”

Porritt also said the government was unlikely to meet the target of making its estate zero carbon by 2012.

He told a seminar held by PFI investor John Laing that he could not detect “any energy in moving towards this goal at all”.