In the report "Energy Subsidies in Europe", commissioned by Greenpeace from the Institute for Environmental Studies at Vrije University in Amsterdam, the group says it has highlighted a serious imbalance between subsidies to the fossil fuel industries and renewable sources of energy.

The amount of subsidies on fossil fuels and the nuclear industry compared with just $1.5bn per year in subsidies for renewable energy, it says.

Greenpeace claims that for every £1 of public subsidy money used to support renewable energy in the UK, fossil fuels have received over £100.

The UK has the lowest proportion of renewables of any country in the European Union (EU) and in terms of overall expenditure on renewables, is second lowest only to Germany, the group adds. Greenpeace has called on the UK's new Labour government to remove all of the country's subsidies to the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.

The £17m per year which Greenpeace estimates is spent on subsidies to these industries should be transferred into programmes for supporting solar and other renewable energy technologies, it says.

The new UK government should also push for the adoption of ambitious targets for expanding renewable energy within the EU, for example by meeting the lm solar homes in Europe by 2010 programme proposed by Greenpeace.

In a letter sent to the UK's energy minister John Battle, Greenpeace called on him to "demonstrate (the Government's) commitment to leading the fight against global warming".

Greenpeace's comments came as Heinz Rothermund, managing director of Shell UK Exploration and Production, defended the use of fossil fuels.

He told an audience in Glasgow: "In the timeframe considered, and if we accept that economic growth and social development go hand in hand and are worthwhile goals in our strive for world peace, there is no alternative to the continued use of fossil fuels."

Mr Rothermund admitted that the ongoing campaign against oil development on the Atlantic Margin had highlighed the "dilemma" that the oil industry faced in judging how far it was sensible to explore for and develop new hydrocarbon reserves when the atmosphere may not be able to cope with the greenhouse gases which would emanate from the utilisation of already discovered reserves.

But he made reference to the "exaggerated claims" and "emotional references" used by Greenpeace, and warned that curbing development in UK waters, where the industry had a good environmental record could push output to other areas of the world with less ecological integrity.

Greenpeace claimed Mr Rothermund's comments about how far the oil industry should go in developing new reserves "queried the entire basis for the expansion of his industry" and called on him to join the campaign for renewable energy.