News: July 2010

Fears of major job losses in construction have been countered with the issue of a report aiming to kick-start a greener economy built on tackling climate change, energy and economic security.

The report, ‘zerocarbonbritain2030’, published by the Centre for Alternative Technology, with input from no fewer than 13 universities, 12 research bodies and eight key industry players, highlights how Britain could cut greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2030, while also creating hundreds of thousands of jobs a year across a spread of sectors.

The study has reportedly received a “positive response” from both government and the Green Investment Bank, which in late June proposed a £14 billion investment into furthering the development of renewable technologies and a greener economy.

“Tackling the threat of climate change, energy security and economic security are the three vital elements we need to be working towards,” said Kim Bryan from the Centre for Alternative Technology.

The CAT study predicts that two million jobs a year could be created by 2030, with wholesale changes to agriculture and a shift away from heavy reliance on oil shaping its conclusions. It identifies potential for 'Powering Down' through reducing demand and 'Powering Up' renewables to 100% by 2030 with no requirement for nuclear energy.

“We’re proposing a diversification of farming practice, as livestock farming contributes greatly to our overall greenhouse emissions,” Bryan explained. “We recognise jobs will be lost from farming short-term but we’ll see a net job increase as more posts will be created by growing new crops for aviation fuel for example.”

With diminishing UK oil stocks and job losses likely across the industry soon, the study suggests making use of the UK’s “good land resource” for renewable energy creation.
A major focus of the study is offshore wind, which The Centre predicts could create 300,000 jobs by the “peak year” of 2022.

“There are too many vested interests in the oil industry that are stalling new technologies from developing further,” said Bryan. “It’s up to this government to put the wheels in motion and their first steps should be to intensify the utilisation of offshore wind and boost energy efficiency of housing.”

Retrofitting the existing housing stock would create a wave of new jobs, the Centre believes. Bryan suggests that the government should set up a workforce to travel the country installing energy-efficiency measures, funded by the proposed financial transaction tax, which would help meet the cost of developing green technologies, combat climate change and global poverty – issues which it believes go hand in hand.

“We also feel there is much scope for using natural building materials,” Bryan stated, “which we often waste in the UK. Currently we throw away three million tonnes of straw a year. This could be used to make straw-bales for housing – it’s a material that has already shown its benefits on a small scale.

“The changes we’re proposing will by no means mark an end to certain sectors, rather a transition into a different way of doing things,” she concluded.

www.cat.org.uk