The Chancellor must take urgent action in this month's Budget to make it cheaper and easier for people to reduce their reliance on oil, gas and coal and avoid spiralling fossil fuel prices, Friends of the Earth said today.

The environmental campaigning charity is calling for a range of measures to develop the UK's huge green energy potential, tackle energy waste and create tens of thousands of new green jobs.

Measures Friends of the Earth is calling for include:

• Establish a well-resourced Green Bank able to lend sufficient funds needed to transform the UK's ageing energy infrastructure by investing in major green power projects and energy efficiency schemes;
• Provide convenient and affordable alternatives to the car by investing in public transport, cycling and walking;
• Comprehensive funding to stamp out fuel poverty by helping vulnerable households cut energy waste and save fuel bills;
• Boosting incentives, under the Government's feed-in tariff scheme, for homes, businesses and communities to generate their own clean energy by installing small-scale systems such as solar panels and micro-wind turbines.

Friends of the Earth's Executive Director Andy Atkins said:

"Recent global fuel shocks are like a coughing canary in the mine - it's a warning to get off our dependence on fossil fuels.

"The Chancellor must tackle the twin threats of rising fuel prices and global climate change by investing in the UK's safe, clean and abundant renewable energy potential and cutting energy waste.

"Building a low-carbon economy will create tens of thousands of new jobs and be a core part of Britain's economic recovery."

ENDS 

Notes to editors:

1.   Friends of the Earth's full briefing on the Budget is available for download.