Responding to Gordon Brown's legislative plans, announced today, Greenpeace director John Sauven said:

"Brown's housing plans need to make zero-carbon houses the norm and not the exception. If such legislation doesn't force new housing projects to be zero-carbon now, it will be a failure.

"As we embark on a major house-building programme, massive projects like that at Thames Gateway, just east of London, are a huge opportunity to tackle rather than inflame global warming."

Sauven continued:

"Brown's statement had a large, Marine Bill-sized hole. The once plentiful seas around the UK are being hugely over-exploited.

"Legislation is urgently needed to save our seas and restore the marine environment, yet Brown has ignored their plight. The oceans urgently need a network of large-scale, fully protected marine reserves - essentially like aquatic national parks."

For more information, contact the Greenpeace press office on 020 7865 8255.