Labour has pledged it would create a robust and regulatory regime before fracking for shale gas could go ahead.
The political party made the vow as it unveiled its election manifesto just weeks before voters go to the polls.
There was also a nod to the North Sea oil and gas sector, with a promise to provide long-term strategy for the industry, with more certainty on tax rates and measures to help exploit the potential for storing carbon emissions in offshore oil and gas fields.
Labour has also pledged to freeze fuel bills until 2017.
The promise to freeze energy bills so they can fall but not rise over the next two years, first announced by Ed Miliband at Labour’s autumn conference in 2013, will be backed by measures to reform the “broken” energy market to help consumes, the party said.
The generation and supply businesses of the “Big Six” energy companies will be split up and they will be made to sell electricity on an open exchange, tariffs will be made simpler, and a tougher new energy watchdog will be brought in, it confirmed.
A Labour government would also deliver a million interest-free loans for home energy improvements in the next parliament, and ensure street-by-street energy efficiency measures are delivered to 200,000 low-income homes a year.
The manifesto promises to make Britain a “world leader” in low carbon technology, backed by a legal target to strip carbon from the power sector by 2030, and giving the Green Investment additional powers to invest in green businesses and technology.
A focus on climate change and the environment has been largely missing from the General Election debate so far, but Labour confirmed its support for an ambitious international deal to tackle global warming, which it is hoped will be agreed this year.
A new infrastructure commission would prioritise flood prevention measures under a Labour government and local authorities will be given powers to tackle air pollution, backed by a national framework.
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