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Mr Balls confirmed that the highly respected architect Robin Nicholson will chair an expert task force to advise ministers. He also announced the group's formal terms of reference.

The Children's Plan, published last December, set out the Government's long-term ambition for all new school buildings in England to produce no carbon emissions at all from their day-to-day use within eight years.

The Zero Carbon Task Force, which meets today, will launch a call for evidence later this summer and report to ministers by the end of year on overcoming the technological and cost barriers.

Ed Balls said:
"We have already made significant steps to cutting carbon use in schools - backed by our unprecedented capital investment in schools, as well as other initiatives giving local authorities a statutory responsibility to cut car use on the school run.

"The Children's Plan goes a lot further and sets out our long-term goal that all new schools buildings should be zero-carbon from 2016.

"This will be the most ambitious design and building initiative the school system has ever faced. This expert task force drawn from the construction, sustainability and education sectors will help us overcome the technical, design and construction challenges over the next eight years.

"I don't have time for critics who will carp that this is impossible. I know that current technology makes zero-carbon schools expensive and challenging to install on many existing school sites.

"The fact is that we have a clear moral responsibility to future generations to make it happen. We can no longer sit back and wait for the science to catch up with us - it would be a dereliction of duty if we did."

Robin Nicholson said:
"I'm delighted to chair the zero carbon task force. This is not going to be straightforward but if there is one sector that must show the way then it should be schools, at the heart of our communities, especially given the scale of the replacement programmes."