Prospect and GMB join forces to launch Climate Jobs UK
Prospect and our trade union counterparts at the GMB have teamed up to launch a new campaign group, Climate Jobs UK, with the aim of putting green energy jobs and workers at the centre of the UK’s transition to a low carbon future.
Climate Jobs UK will be supported by the Climate Jobs National Resource Centre, which has a history of working with unions in the United States to run campaigns on how to create good union jobs while tackling the climate crisis.
The unions say the new campaigning organisation is necessary because more needs to be done to ensure that good jobs are created in low carbon energy – or the government runs the risk of losing support for the green transition.
The government’s industrial strategy also needs a greater focus on supporting workers in communities that will see job losses from industries that are being phased out.
There will be a Clean Energy Workforce Plan later in the year, and Climate Jobs UK will push for a high level of ambition, both for the number and quality of jobs that are being created, as well as a focus on supporting workers who need to transition to new roles.
The launch of Climate Jobs UK is underpinned by new research, carried out on behalf of Prospect and GMB, which has found that the majority of the public want to see jobs and the economy prioritised over speed. The findings include:
Mike Clancy, Prospect General Secretary, said:
“The biggest challenge with the energy transition is no longer climate technology, it is climate jobs.
“We are going to need tens of thousands of workers to deliver this huge shift in the way we produce and use energy. Building on the clean energy industrial strategy, the opportunity is to deliver good, clean energy jobs for the people and places that most need them
“But this research shows that people aren’t yet seeing those jobs materialise, and if this continues then it will undermine support for the transition and drive people towards parties who oppose it and would put the future of the industry at risk.
“The government have raised the ambition on energy policy, which is welcome, now they need to be bigger and bolder when it comes to energy jobs and put energy workers at the heart of this agenda.”
Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary, said:
“How the UK makes the transition to net zero is hugely important.
“The voices of those working in the energy sector day in, day out, who have vast experience of dealing with change, need to be front and centre of the process. If not, it’s doomed to fail.
“At the moment, the transition feels like something being done to workers – that can’t continue.
“People need to see real jobs created where they live, and their local economy boosted, or we’re going to see more and more tempted by the siren calls of those who deny the reality of climate change.”
- More information: www.climatejobs.org.uk
- The Guardian’s coverage of Climate Jobs UK
- Mike Clancy and Gary Smith write in the Mirror about why Climate Jobs UK is needed
