"The role of the Energy Saving Trust, and indeed, the role of the citizen have changed significantly in the last ten years - ten years ago the organisation was about 30 strong, as we are in the process of rolling out our one-stop-shops of advice for householders across the UK we now stand at about 200 staff, all dedicated to natural resource conservation.

"The great news is that being seen to be green is popular amongst 70 per cent of the population - it is in vogue, but this sentiment needs to be turned into serious action and quickly. As the credit crunch lingers on, we all need to hold our nerve and keep the momentum going. CS Lewis put it this way: "it may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird, but imagine how much harder it is to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are all like eggs at present and you cannot go on definitely being just an ordinary egg; we either hatch or go bad.

"We are now however seeing some real progress. The UK will be the first country to set a legislative framework for carbon reduction with the passing of the Climate Change Bill. Carbon Budgets will ensure that the UK is on course to meet those targets and, if properly drawn up and monitored, should ensure that the necessary policies are put in place to achieve the necessary reductions in carbon emissions.

"Hats off to sustain' magazine for keeping the issue of climate change top of people's minds. Keep up the good work, because we have good reasons to be optimistic."

Philip Sellwood, Chief Executive, Energy Saving Trust