MINISTERS must cut the rhetoric and deliver on net-zero carbon emissions, unions and climate campaigners demanded today following a damning report highlighting government failures.

As the government’s own advisers warned it has been “too slow” to take action, unions ramped up the pressure, demanding a balanced energy policy harnessing renewables and new technologies.

Their call came on the heels of highly critical progress reports from the committee on climate change (CCC), warning ministers that time was running out.