Chris Huhne, the energy and climate change secretary, has accused Labour of leaving a "pretty damn poor" legacy on renewables, as oil prices hit their highest for more than two years.

Labour were in power for 13 years but had "only began to change right at the end", Huhne told the Guardian in an interview.

But he promised that over the next decade Britain would increase the amount of energy it gets from renewable sources more quickly than any other state in the European Union.

According to the latest official figures, in 2008 the UK ranked third from bottom on renewable energy in the EU ahead of only Luxembourg and Malta.

"We are exceeded in our paucity of delivery only by Malta and Luxembourg. This is the legacy we have inherited. The essential legacy is pretty damn poor. We have got massive catch up. We will be the fastest improving country on renewables in the EU between now and 2020. I'm absolutely determined about that and it will happen."

The UK has been sluggish in getting its renewable industry off the ground, but investment has started to pick up dramatically in the last few years, particularly in offshore wind farms.

A recent report carried out by Bloomberg Energy Finance for Pew Charitable Trusts forecast that, based on current policies, $114bn (£73bn) would be invested in renewable energy in Britain between 2010 and 2020, the fourth highest amount in the world. Germany will spend more, but its rate of investment will fall, according to the report. Huhne's comments will reassure environmentalists that David Cameron's post-election pledge to be the "greenest government ever" remains a priority.

The government consulted its advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC), on whether to increase Britain's existing challenging target to derive 15% of energy from renewables by 2020, which Tony Blair had signed up to. Chairman Lord Turner advised against it. Huhne explains: "The CCC said 'nice try you are going to have enough difficulty meeting that one [the existing target], don't get too ambitious, learn to walk before you can run'. They put it more politely but that's what they told me."

But he argues that oil would still need to be produced from environmentally sensitive deepwater areas such as the Shetland Islands, despite the risks evidenced by BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster last April.

"Although I am a great believer in much of what Greenpeace argues and I hear what they say about leaving oil in the ground West of Shetland, the reality is that we have a transition to a low carbon economy. It's like turning an oil tanker around. This is not a dinghy it's very, very big – probably an eco-tanker. It will take a lot of time and energy to turn it round."

He says that banning drilling off the Shetlands, as Greenpeace has argued, would not stop drilling in countries which have lax safety standards.

"It [the alternative] wouldn't be no deepwater drilling, it would be that it would be going on in places which are much less capable than we are of insisting on high environmental standards."

Today crude oil prices hit their highest level since October 2008, at just over $92 a barrel in New York.

Analysts polled by news service Bloomberg forecast an average price of $87 in 2011, the second highest average ever, and compared to an average of just below $80 for 2010.

The average price rose by 15% last year compared to 2009, following a 78% annual surge in 2009 as the global economy recovered from the downturn.