Memorandum submitted by Greenpeace
1. Greenpeace is a global campaigning organisation
which has as its main object the protection of the natural environment.
Greenpeace has regional offices in 40 countries, 2.8 million supporters
worldwide and around 150,000 in the UK. It is independent of governments
and businesses, being funded entirely by individual subscriptions.
Greenpeace was one of the first organisations to campaign for
action to be taken to halt anthropogenic climate change. It has
built up considerable expertise and has access to independent
expertise on the links between energy use and climate change including
scientific and economic analysis and the dynamics of energy and
electricity markets.
2. A report from the Institute for Public Policy
Research (ippr) and Greenpeace (attached) highlighted the huge
potential for job creation from offshore wind. Despite ambitious
plans to expand offshore wind farms over the next decade, only
700 people are currently employed in the sector and there is only
one UK-based factory that manufactures parts for wind turbine
parts. However, the IPPR identified that the expected major expansion
of offshore wind to meet our legally binding target of 15% renewable
energy by 2020 could create between 23,000 and 70,000 jobs in
UK, with much of the variation being a function of Government
policy and political support. It did however warn that without
greater government support, the opportunity to create up to 70,000
long-term jobs in parts of the country where they are needed,
and its associated export potential, will be lost.
3. In summary, the report concluded that
to be a leading player and to secure green jobs in the UK we need
to:
— secure the domestic market through ensuring
sufficient financial support, straightforward planning and ensuring
grid connections;
— engage in "industrial activism"
in support of industry by providing tax and financial incentives,
infrastructure like ports and test facilities, financial guarantees
and preferences for local sourcing; and
— create a skills strategy following a
proper analysis of the skills "gap" for the proposed
expansion, which should include attracting a new workforce into
the sector.
4. The starting point for a low carbon world
has to be energy efficiency. In the current economic climate there
is considerable opportunity to kick-start building efficiency.
The report from Impetus Consulting (attached), commissioned by
Greenpeace, shows that an annual £5 billion investment in
domestic energy efficiency would create around 55,000 jobs directly
with hundreds of thousands of jobs would be created indirectly.
For example, the evidence suggests that 8-14 person-years of employment
would be created in UK for every €1 million invested, with
a further 9-40 person years created indirectly. And every year
it would reduce emissions of carbon dioxide by about 1.6 million
tonnes while also addressing fuel poverty. An investment of £5
billion per year would deliver 55,000 jobs. This is the level
of investment required every year over the next 40 years to bring
UK housing stock up to the level compatible with meeting our emissions
reduction targets, as estimated by Oxford University for Federation
of Master Builders.[56]
5. To summarise, the advantages of energy
efficiency investment are that:
— it creates jobs in the UK as efficiency
work has to be done locally;
— low levels of employment in the building
sector mean the market is not tight;
— jobs can be created relatively quickly;
— reducing fuel bills of people and companies
effectively provides a "fiscal stimulus" every year;
and
— as the UK imports more of its gas it
contributes positively to balance of payments.
6. Further, Britain has a unique potential
role in the development of marine renewables such as wave and
tidal stream with the jobs that would accompany an export industry
in the UK. Currently we lead the world in both these technologies
but notably the first commercial wave farm was sited in Portuguese
waters. Our leadership in full commercialisation cannot be guaranteed
at present and it is almost certain that a strategy for marine
renewables generally would look similar to that outlined above
for offshore wind. Although there are some encouraging signs,
we are not yet delivering enough on both the skills and "activism"
side.
22 May 2009
56 Oxford University Environmental Change Institute
for Federation of Master Builders "Building a Greener Britain"
July 2008. http://www.fmb.org.uk/EasysiteWeb/getresource.axd?AssetID=2358&type=full&servicetype=attachment Back
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