Incentives to encourage firms and the public in helping prevent climate change are essential, Daithi McKay added.

The Stormont committee called on the DoE to establish its own emission reduction targets to include farmers.

But with entrepreneurs struggling with tough economic times the CBI in Belfast said high prices were already encouraging economising.

Sinn Fein Assembly member Mr McKay added: "There should be some sort of financial fine but we need to be mindful of the pressures facing businesses. There have been a certain amount of steps but there is still much more which could be done."

The report, Environment Committee Inquiry Into Climate Change, made 47 recommendations including labelling all electrical goods with energy efficiency ratings and boosting the electricity grid to ensure it can use all supplies from renewable sources.

Mr McKay said the ministerial Executive must introduce legislation to deal with household waste and consider a levy on plastic bags.

Deirdre Stewart, assistant director of the CBI in Northern Ireland, said: "Firms here have got a very good driver for energy efficiency, which is energy prices... There is no one going around wasting energy these days - they could not afford to. People have been doing it for years because energy prices have been so high since the early 1990s."

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen described a UN climate summit in Copenhagen as an "opportunity the world cannot afford to miss".

Opening the two-week conference in the Danish capital, he told delegates from 192 countries a "strong and ambitious climate change agreement" was needed.