Government needs to get moving on making the UK a low-carbon economy, says TUC

Date:  Sunday 18 October 2015
Embargo: 00:01am Monday 19 October 2015

The government must stop cutting renewable energy funding and get behind the UK’s transition to a low-carbon economy, a new report has said today (Monday).

The report, jointly written by the TUC and Greenpeace, says that there is much common ground between trade unions and environmental organisations, who want to see active support from government so the UK can become a world centre UK can be a world centre for low-carbon manufacturing, including steel.

Green Collar Nation says that the UK should follow the example of countries like Germany, which invested in renewable energy and created 380,000 jobs.

By contrast, UK government cuts to renewable energy have put 27,000 jobs at risk, with over 1,000 redundancies declared by solar power firms this week alone.

The report includes the following policy recommendations:

Commenting on the launch of the report, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“The UK has the potential to be a world leader in low-carbon manufacturing. But this won’t be achieved by slashing support for renewable energy.

“Ministers should be learning from the likes of Germany, and getting behind the green economy. This is the way to create the high-quality jobs and apprenticeships we need to boost productivity.”

“David Cameron’s ‘greenest government ever’ remains a distant fantasy.”

Dr. Doug Parr, Greenpeace Policy Director said:

"The government cannot pretend cuts to subsidies for the nascent solar industry are necessary to save families money whilst throwing much more money at well-established technologies. The timing couldn't be worse as the young and potentially booming solar industry is on track to go subsidy free but if these cuts happen, it will be too sudden, too soon and too dramatic and is likely to irrevocably damage the domestic solar industry losing thousands of jobs and millions in investment.

“There are dynamic, fast-growing industries in the green economy which could have global reach that are being stifled by lack of support. The Treasury needs to get out of its 20th century mind set and recognise that other industries like unabated coal are part of the past, and ensure that those workers who need to make the transition to new industry are given the support and retraining they need."

1. Scrapping the Zero Carbon Homes building standards
2. Changes to Vehicle Excise Duty
3. Privatising the Green Investment Bank
4. Applying the Climate Change Levy to renewable energy
5. Cut renewable energy subsidies for onshore wind
6. Cutting subsidies for larger solar power schemes
7. Cutting subsidies for small-scale renewable
8. Proposals to remove pre-accreditation for feed-in tariff schemes
9. Delaying the autumn 2015 round of Contracts for Difference for large scale renewable energy projects.
10. Scrapping the Green Deal for home energy efficiency investments
11. Abandoning a previous commitment to increase the share of environmental taxes in the total tax take

Media office: T: 0207 467 1248  E: media@tuc.org.uk
Alex Rossiter  T: 020 7467 1285  M: 07887 572130  E: arossiter@tuc.org.uk
Tim Nichols  T: 020 7467 1388  M: 07808 761844  E: tnichols@tuc.org.uk
Michael Pidgeon  T: 020 7467 1372  M: 07717 531150  E: mpidgeon@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson (Mon to Wed)  T: 020 7467 1337  M: 07900 910624  E: egibson@tuc.org.uk
Kay Atwal (Thu and Fri)  T: 020 7467 1385  M: 07941 547469  E: katwal@tuc.org.uk