The draft text says that EU policy must ensure “competitive” energy prices, and declares it “crucial” that Europe diversify its energy supply and develop “indigenous energy resources” – a reference to renewable energies, but also coal, nuclear power and shale gas.

One high-profile German MEP Holger Krahmer (ALDE), hailed the end of “climate hysteria” in a jubilant press statement.

Speaking at the European Business Summit, Kurt Vandenberghe, the head of cabinet for Environment Commissioner Janez Potočnik, said it was the job of the Commission to make clear the links between waste management and macroeconomics, calling for a phasing out of environmental subsidies.

The call from Vandenberghe is part of a number from European Commission chiefs who claimed that carrying out existing  environmental legislation will help Europe exit its economic doldrums by cutting down on energy or natural resource use.

In a wide-ranging interview with EurActiv, James Hansen branded the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS) “ineffectual” and flawed, and accused energy firms of preferring government bribes over investments in clean technology.

Campaigners say the partnership – which will see the climate and energy secretary, Ed Davey, attend the Shell Geoscience Laboratory's official opening on Thursday – undermines the university's credibility and conflicts with its work on climate change.

Capping van speed will encourage the supply of smaller engines and reduce average van fuel consumption and emissions by at least 6%, analysts say.

But the MEP leading the EU legislative’s amendments, Holger Krahmer, a German liberal, says the move interferes with the road traffic regulations of member states.

Britain's highest appellate court, the Supreme Court, said the government was in breach of an EU directive which put limits on nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), a colourless, odourless gas produced by burning fuels which can damage people's breathing.

London has the highest levels of NO₂ of any European capital. Around 29,000 early deaths a year in Britain are attributed to air pollution, according to a body which advises the British government.

The Commission, like Europe’s states, Parliament, and industry, is known to be divided on what, if any, measures should be taken to save the depressed Emissions Trading System (ETS), which is the cornerstone of EU climate policy.

A plenary vote in Strasbourg last week rejected EU plans to ‘backload’ – or withhold – 900 million carbon allowances from auction to boost their price, which tumbled to below €3 a tonne in the aftermath.