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Housing minister Yvette Cooper has urged housebuilders and councils to sign the 2016 Commitment to zero carbon housing.

The terms of the commitment, which are released today, asks signatories to pledge that:

• By 2016, zero carbon homes are a reality at the scale required to meet the government-set housing targets of 240,000 a year.

• Over the interim period new homes will meet the increasingly higher environmental standards as set out in building regulations.

• They resolve the issues that need to be tackled to achieve the 2016 objectives.

It has already been signed by Stewart Baseley, executive chairman of the Home Builders Federation, Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green ºÚ¶´ÉçÇø Council and Michael Ankers, chief executive of the Construction Products Association.

Government, council and local authority chiefs have also signed the agreement.

Cooper said: “I strongly welcome the number of groups who have signed up to this shared ambition. No one underestimates the scale of the challenge but this shows the extent of the support for more affordable and sustainable housing. I urge others to join with us in this shared commitment to the future of the nation's homes."