Trade unions Prospect and GMB have launched Climate Jobs UK, a new campaign group aimed at putting workers at the centre of the UK’s transition to net zero.
The campaign is supported by the Climate Jobs National Resource Centre, which has worked with US unions on similar initiatives focused on creating union jobs while tackling the climate crisis.
The unions say the UK needs to go further in ensuring low carbon jobs are good quality and plentiful, or risk losing public support for the transition.
Climate Jobs UK will campaign for stronger government action to support workers, especially in areas where fossil fuel-related jobs are being phased out.
A Clean Energy Workforce Plan is expected later this year, and the campaign aims to influence it with higher ambition on both the number and quality of green jobs.
New polling shows most of the public want jobs and the economy prioritised alongside the pace of decarbonisation.
Prospect General Secretary Mike Clancy said: “The biggest challenge with the energy transition is no longer climate technology, it is climate jobs. People aren’t yet seeing those jobs materialise, and that risks undermining the whole effort.”
He added: “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.”
GMB General Secretary Gary Smith warned the transition currently feels “like something being done to workers,” and urged the government to ensure green jobs are visible in local communities.
“People need to see real jobs created where they live, or we’re going to see more and more tempted by the siren calls of those who deny the reality of climate change,” he said.
Unions launch green workforce group appeared first on Energy Live News.