Prioritising green homes, tree planting, and charge points could help tackle mounting job losses, according to new reports from IPPR and REA. Investing in a green recovery could create as many as 1.6 million jobs in the UK as the country strives to bounce back from the coronavirus crisis, delivering greener homes, cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
Business Green 2nd July 2020 read more »
IPPR and REA: Up to 1.6 million new jobs could be created though green Covid-19 recovery. A green recovery package prioritising jobs in energy efficiency and public transport could create 1.6 million new jobs in the UK, new IPPR research has concluded.
Edie 2nd July 2020 read more »
Colin Hines & Richard Murphy: In the preface to Labour Party’s consultation document Green Recovery Ed Miliband calls for the UK to implement the most ambitious green recovery programme in the world with an emphasis on jobs provision and the creation of a “zero carbon army” of workers to amongst other things insulate buildings and develop the green technologies of the future. Our submission concentrates on the way to make these aspects of the green transition more concrete and appealing to citizens, businesses and local and national politicians. It concentrates on the enormous number and range of jobs that can be created in every constituency in making the UK’s 30 million building energy efficient. To meet the governments net zero carbon target for 2050 could mean up to 20,000 homes and buildings being made energy tight every week for the next thirty years. Perhaps even more importantly in terms of gaining political and public acceptance it contains detailed proposals of how to feasibly find the multi billion pounds that will be required annually to fund such a transformation.
Tax Research 25th June 2020 read more »
The chancellor of the exchequer must lay out urgent plans to realign government spending with the target to cut carbon emissions to net zero, or risk missing the target and fuelling high carbon emissions for years to come, Labour has urged. The warning comes as the Treasury prepares key policy announcements on the UK’s recovery from the coronavirus recession, which Rishi Sunak is expected to set out in his spending review next week. Environmental campaigners are pinning their hopes on the chancellor proving more receptive to a green recovery than the prime minister, after Boris Johnson set out his vision for a “new deal” this week in which the climate crisis merited barely a mention, but “newt counting” was singled out as “a drag on productivity”.
Guardian 3rd July 2020 read more »
Expert witness Lord Deben, chair of the Committee on Climate Change, warned the government: “In almost every sector we are failing. That has been covered up by the fact we have done relatively well on the decarbonisation of energy, but in most other areas we are not reaching anywhere near the levels we have to. The government is not on track to meet the fourth and fifth carbon budgets, both of which or course are statutory requirements.” Asked why the government was not on track Lord Deben replied: “We haven’t taken the measures quickly enough, because until very recently I don’t think there has been sufficient concern outside the departments of BEIS and Defra to do what they need to do. I think there is a significant change now, but we have simply not done the radical things that need to be done.” Philip Dunne, Conservative MP for Ludlow, noted the UK has 29 million homes of which less than half have sufficient insulation and construction methods which makes them energy efficient. He asked the expert panel how the government can be persuaded to provide the £9.2bn pledged in the Conservative manifesto to address this issue. “What you say is absolutely right,” Lord Deben replied. “That money is necessary. It’s the very best way of stimulating the economy – British jobs in Britain – all over the country – and meets the prime minister’s concern about “leveling up”, it helps the poorest who need to be helped if we’re going to have a just transition.” He added: “What we should be doing with new houses is since the Climate Change Committee first asked the government to improve our building regulations and the standards to which houses should be built, we’ve built a million more houses, all of which will have to be retrofitted. “I’m afraid I rudely refer to them as ‘crap houses’ and the reason I did that was the mechanism of building a bad house in these circumstances is that the builder passes the cost of energy onto the people who buy the house. If he builds the house properly in the first place, the energy costs, let alone the emissions, are reduced enormously.”
Independent 2nd July 2020 read more »
Ministers must provide quick and tangible financial benefits for households under their plans for a green economic recovery if they are to avoid a backlash, a think tank argues. Boris Johnson has been urged to follow up on his promise of a stronger, cleaner and more sustainable economy after lockdown with “quick-impact” schemes which create jobs and reduce bills by insulating homes. The Social Market Foundation warned that consumers, particularly those facing economic hardship, will turn against the green agenda unless Whitehall develops a consistent argument that “greener is cheaper”. It said that environmental pledges, such as that by the prime minister this week for greener construction, should be handled with great care as household finances come under pressure. An insulation initiative, as well as other adaptations to homes, would be the “quickest way to delivering short-term economic stimulus, employment and household savings,” rather than larger-scale projects, it said in a report.
Times 3rd July 2020 read more »
The government has been urged to create a Net Zero Development Bank and pledge £5 billion towards local energy projects. This comes from Siemens UK and UK100, a network of 100 Mayors and local government leaders. The duo analysed the progress of five regional energy hubs, which have a pipeline of 183 projects valued at £850 million. It found that this potential pipeline could be increased by more than 100 times from £0.85 billion to £100 billion if local energy projects – which are mostly at early stages – were given a boost through a £5 billion stimulus package.
Current 2nd July 2020 read more »