The government’s attempts to encourage people to live more sustainably through so-called “nudge” initiatives are “too timid” and “lack ambition”, according to a new report from the soon-to-be-scrapped Sustainable Development Commission (SDC).

In a parting shot at the government ahead of it being disbanded at the end of March, the SDC warned that without wider structural support, the coalition’s preferred tactic of nudging people into making incremental green choices will fail to deliver the large-scale improvements to environmental sustainability that are required.

The report, Making Sustainable Lives Easier: A Priority for Governments, Business and Society, says that while companies and individuals are trying to operate more sustainably, their efforts are often frustrated by poorly insulated buildings and expensive and inefficient public transport.

The concept of sustainable lives is not yet well understood, it warns, blaming confusion around the government’s various nudge, Big Society and localism policies, as well as its cuts programme, for delaying the development of a clear sustainability agenda.

The SDC has emerged as one of the most high-profile environmental casualties of the government’s cuts programme and its duties as an adviser to government will now be subsumed by Defra and the Welsh and Scottish governments.

It uses what is likely to be its final report to beseech the government to make living sustainably easier than the alternative by providing “appropriate interventions”, including regulation, incentives and economic levers.

It warns that ruling out mandatory approaches in favour of nudge policies and incentives “ignores the evidence of what has driven change towards sustainable behaviours to date”, such as energy efficiency standards for white goods that have improved the uptake of more environmentally friendly models.

Targets for businesses and councils have also inspired higher recycling rates, while vehicle manufacturers have had to up their game in the face of EU emissions targets, the report notes.

The SDC says businesses need a “clear steer” from government if they are to step up investment in sustainable technologies and business models.

It also recommends that government in Westminster, Edinburgh and Cardiff work with business and Big Society organisations to flesh out action plans for sustainability. These could then feed into the UK government’s business-focused Road map to a Green Economy, which is expected by April 2011.

“If the whole world consumed as we do in the UK, we would need three planets to sustain everyone,” said SDC chief executive Andrew Lee. “The consequences for people and the planet from this excessive and unequal resource use make the goal of sustainable lives not a ‘nice to have’ some day, but an essential priority for governments right now.”