The dispute at the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight following the announcement that production would move to China, with the resulting loss of 625 jobs, has brought home not simply the reality of the recession but the rhetoric around ‘green jobs’.
The decision came merely months before the government announced significant funding to advance the offshore wind industry in the UK. Such announcements are not enough on their own. The UK needs to follow the Spanish example of using local content requirements for wind farm planning permission and address the planning blockages for both small and large scale projects that makes it difficult to get planning permission. Ministers should reflect on the comments of the Vestas CEO. He called the UK planning system ‘the most difficult in the world’.
As the department for energy and climate change approaches its first birthday, we have seen a flurry of plans and publications. Last month the government published ‘The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan’, which presents how the UK will meet the cut in emissions set out in the budget by 2020. July also saw the publication of the UK Renewable Energy Strategy following a consultation that started in 2008. This strategy aims to help tackle climate change, promote the security of our energy supply and provide opportunities for employment and the UK economy. A ‘UK Low Carbon Industrial Strategy’ was published alongside the transition plan targeting key industries and regions where the government believes the UK has key competitive and commercial advantages. The strategy also includes the first allocations of the £405m funding for green industry and technology announced in April’s budget.
Pledges to transform the country into a cleaner, greener and more prosperous place to live are at the heart of economic plans in the much trumpeted June plan for ‘Building Britain’s Future’. This includes undertakings that more than 1.2 million people will be in green jobs, 7m homes will have benefited from whole house makeovers, the average car will emit 40% less carbon and that 40% of electricity will be from low carbon resources, renewables, nuclear and clean coal.
But what do we mean when we talk about creating green jobs? Previously, much focus has been on renewable energy – nuclear, wind, tidal power and so on. Indeed, ‘The UK Low Carbon Transition Plan’ charts around £100bn of new investment ‘with the potential to create up to half a million more jobs in the renewable energy sector’. A significant and generational shift towards enhanced use of lower carbon fuels is vital in the fight against climate change, and will of course bring with it a welcome range of training, up-skilling, re-tooling and employment opportunities.
Although crucial, it is not just a question of moving to renewables but also energy efficient systems, cars, domestic appliances and so on – all areas that in turn create the engineering and related jobs of the future. Jobs and businesses need to be created across industry and services and help will be needed to support all business to be more energy efficient.
A commitment to a broader approach to energy efficiency is key as it is both where the UK needs to address the energy savings needed to tackle climate change and, moreover, where there is potential for decent employment. Two significant areas are construction and housing. Opportunities across the construction and housing industries abound – new build, high quality environmentally sustainable social housing and other buildings plus properly insulating existing buildings and carrying out a comprehensive programme of retro-fitting.
Housing represents 27% of the UK’s total carbon emissions. So, action to improve the energy efficiency of homes will be crucial if the government’s carbon reduction goals are going to be achieved. The Local Government Association has called for a national, council led programme ‘to provide basic insulation measure to 10 million homes with cavity wall and full loft insulation’. They estimate that the cost of this ‘retro-fit’ programme is £5bn and that rolling it out at £500m a year would create an additional 20,000 jobs. Additionally, there are 7m homes that require solid wall insulation. Action in this area could create another 5,000 jobs a year. Individuals will also benefit from massive cash savings as in a poorly insulated home up to £1 in every £3 currently spent on heating is wasted.
The government is already taking steps in the right direction, allocating £100m to the social housing sector to insulate homes in the 2009 budget and a further £100m for councils to build energy efficient homes. Indeed, full marks to government for the vision set out in the recent plethora of proposals and plans; but what of the means in making a fully sustainable, environmentally friendly decent employment an actuality? Targets have been outlined but without the adequate government and market interventions they are prophetic not practicable. This really is a case of needing a right and palatable ‘carrot and stick’ approach. Unions need to use their leverage with the current Labour government to continue to push for the interventions and assistance necessary in order to go some way to achieving climate change and green job targets.
Any low carbon industrial strategy must include: access to capital with a clear remit and duty for banks and pension funds to invest in ’green jobs’ plus more funding for ‘green training’, such as the right to paid leave for training and statutory rights for union environmental reps in order to assist in the facilitation of environmental up-skilling and improved workplace energy efficiency. In fact, research has revealed that rights for union reps could help workers access the skills needed to free up an additional £5.6-£7.4bn of potential energy savings for UK business and the public sector.
This list is by no means exhaustive but sets the tone on the kind of action that is needed alongside the timely and thorough thinking we have had recently from government. Everyone has the right to work in a way that provides for his/her needs without damaging the environment. We need real and right industrial activism as well as words to ensure that existing and emerging environmental technologies deliver UK jobs. Substantial levers and incentives are necessary for the UK to grow the green jobs of today and tomorrow. It can by no means be assumed, nor left to chance, that the economy that emerges from the recession will be sustainable. Campaigning for the environment, renewable energy and decent jobs needn’t be mutually exclusive. Quite the opposite – concrete change can only be achieved by mainstreaming these matters.