BRITISH Airways chairman Lord Marshall has promised to press the Government for an energy tax to clamp down on harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

He is heading an industry task force for Labour Chancellor Gordon Brown in a bid to reduce harmful emissions in the coming millennium.

In a speech at the launch of the Oxford Energy and Environment Festival yesterday, he outlined the contents of his report, Economic Instruments and the Business Use of Energy.

His address coincided with the last day of the Buenos Aires Earth Summit on Climate Change and argued that the Government can use new taxes and financial incentives in industry and commerce to meet its international obligations on greenhouse emissions.

Lord Marshall told the 100-strong audience: "It is inevitable that we should face criticism from industry and commerce for coming out with recommendations that are too tough.

"What is not in doubt is that plain common sense and the action of new economic instruments is needed sooner rather than later."

Another highlight of the week-long festival of events staged by the Oxford-based charity, the Millennium Energy Debate, includes a talk by polar explorer Robert Swan, the only person to have reached both the North and South Poles on foot.

The university has pledged to encourage staff to adhere to a green transport strategy.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.