The TUC report, Powering Ahead: How UK industry can match Europe’s environmental leaders, examines how countries like Denmark and Germany have forged ahead in the global race to deliver an economy driven by renewable energy. It argues that government support for new low-carbon industries – both those generating and using low-carbon power – should be targeted to communities that have lost their livelihoods with the demise of heavy industry, and at workers whose livelihoods are at risk from the change to a low-carbon UK economy.
The TUC’s other recommendations include a roadmap for a sustainable industrial strategy aimed at securing 50 percent of UK energy from renewables by 2050, as well as a government agency to fund advanced energy research projects, similar to the ARPA-E in the US. Government support should include a demonstration carbon capture and storage plant and public procurement support for offshore wind, the report adds.
“Greg Clark’s new department must seize the opportunity and use green tech to deliver great new jobs” said TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady. “Combining climate change and industrial policy in one department is an opportunity to get a share of the $500 billion renewable energy industry for the UK. As energy from oil and coal gets more expensive, manufacturing firms will instead invest in countries with a plentiful supply of low-carbon energy. So the government must put investment in low-carbon industry at the heart of its new industrial strategy. And it must focus that investment on towns that have lost their heavy industry, where decent jobs are still in short supply.”
The global clean energy industry is currently estimated to be worth $500 billion says the TUC.
For additional information:
TUC report: Powering Ahead: How UK industry can match Europe’s environmental leaders
