On Monday Sky, Tesco, Marks and Spencer, 02, Barclaycard, Royal Sun Alliance and British Gas unveiled a new initiative called ‘We’re In This Together’, with Prime Minister Tony Blair and the Environment Secretary David Miliband present.

Each company will make concessions to aid shoppers in their bid to reduce carbon emissions. Tesco for instance will stock cheaper low-energy light bulbs and will attempt to increase the sale of the bulbs five-fold, while 70% of Marks & Spencer’s clothes will carry lower wash temperature labels encouraging customers to wash their clothes as 30C. British Gas are offering a free energy audit, and Barclaycard are launching a green card with half the profits going towards reducing carbon emissions.

Homes adhering to the scheme could save as much as a tonne of CO2s within three years it is estimated, and if every home in the country were to adopt and follow the guidelines then around 25 million tonnes would be saved; about the same amount as Scotland and Wales.

Friends of the Earth welcome the scheme but believe the government is hiding behind such initiatives. FoE director Tony Juniper said: “The fact these companies are signalling their willingness to help consumers become green is welcome, but at the end of the day this is only a small number of companies.

Mr Juniper added: “We have to as a matter of urgency de-carbonise the economy and that can only be done by Government introducing new regulations.”

Click here for We’re In This Together website