Britain 'could be carbon neutral'

Britain could be carbon neutral and a net energy exporter by 2050, according to the Liberal Democrats.

Proposals in the party's Apollo Project for UK Independence strategy are designed to boost renewable energy to "free Britain from the shackles of foreign oil, coal and gas".

The strategy, announced by Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg calls for the provision of incentives to trigger a massive growth of renewable energy projects.

Feed-in tariffs, left out of the recent Energy Bill, would guarantee minimum prices for renewable generation projects selling energy to the grid.

France, Germany and Spain, all of which ranked above the UK in the Ernst & Young index of attractiveness for investment in renewable energy, use feed-in tariffs.

Mr Clegg told the BBC's Today Programme: "If we can put a man on the moon; if we can create the welfare state, then we can revolutionise the way in which we produce energy."

The government has set a target of cutting carbon emissions by 60 per cent before 2050, though the Committee on Climate Change is pushing to raise the target to 80 per cent.