The Environment Audit Committee has called on the government to establish a deadline for the UK's coal-fired power stations to adopt carbon capture technologies.

Coming soon after E.On was given the green light to build the country's first new coal-fired plant for 25 years at Kingsnorth in Kent, the parliamentary committee has argued that, so far, the progress made in installing green technologies has been "extremely disappointing".

The cross-party group of MPs want the government to commit to a timeline for energy operators to adopt measures aimed at cutting the levels of harmful emissions from their plants, arguing that the current plans of relying on the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as an incentive is likely to be insufficient.

Committee chairman Tim Yeo MP stated: "It is absolutely crucial for the government to... tell the industry that carbon capture and storage will be required, and that coal-fired power stations will not be permitted to operate unabated."

However, for some environmental campaigners, even this would be a move in the wrong direction, with the World Development Movement telling the BBC that CCS technology is so far "unproven" and that any further development of coal-fired stations will set the UK "firmly on the path to higher carbon emissions".