The head of Britain's business lobby said yesterday that there was no chance of Britain or Europe meeting the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by the deadline set by Brussels last week.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the Confederation of British industry, added that there was also no chance of Britain meeting the target for renewable energy by 2020 ordered by the European Commission.

The commission last week announced draft legislation outlining how the 27 EU countries are to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and ensure 20% of European energy is generated from renewable sources by 2020.

Under the proposals, Britain is to increase its renewable energy quotient from under 2% to 15% by 2020. "It can be done but it will cost a hell of a lot of money," said Lambert. "I think it is not realistic." The scheme would not be cost-effective and businesses would not invest sufficiently in renewable energy technologies, Lambert predicted. The main hope for combating of climate change lay in allowing the market to set a realistic carbon price enabling big polluters to trade their carbon permits and providing incentives for investment in low-carbon or carbon-neutral energy generation.