Householders who recycle their rubbish or insulate their homes could be rewarded with lower council tax under Labour's election plans.

The party's manifesto will include a pledge to provide cuts of up to £100 a year if households go green, in the first scheme of its kind in the UK. The idea comes as politicians try to react to growing voter concern about the magnitude of climate change.

Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned global temperatures could rise by 6C by the end of the century.

A spokesman for Jack McConnell said the First Minister would make a commitment in Labour's manifesto to provide incentives for green homes.

"Families who recycle and take energy efficiency measures could be entitled to council tax discounts. Labour will amend legislation to give councils the opportunity to introduce variable rate discounts. It will be up to the council to decide what they want to do, and at what level to set any discount," he said.

However,the Greens said the idea was merely tinkering around the edges of climate change, and questioned the bureaucracy required to establish if someone was recycling enough to qualify.

Green MSP Mark Ruskell said: "Labour, the LibDems and the SNP can't hide their climate wrecking policies behind a series of pilot schemes and small promises one side of an election. It's simply not credible."

If all households qualified, the cost could exceed £200m a year.

Pat Watters, president of the council umbrella group Cosla, welcomed the principle, but demanded more cash. We have to look at the practicalities of how this would be implemented. The executive would have to fund it," he said.