Green Alliance calls for jobs plan to boost green energy sector
Environmental think tank Green Alliance has called on the Government to develop a jobs plan boost the green energy sector across the country.
The think tank has urged the Government to address the shortages of skilled workers needed to expand the green energy industry, with targeted training programmes and financial incentives for workers to move jobs.
This could help “level up” those regions that most need it, and would ensure a “bonanza of secure jobs in green energy” across the whole of the UK,
It revealed there was a dearth of green jobs in regions such as the Midlands, Wales, and the North of England,
Green Alliance’s latest report also reveals that green energy sources, such as wind and solar, can support five times more secure and skilled jobs in the UK than gas generation.
It praises the government’s ambitions to expand offshore wind, solar and nuclear power but warns that, under current plans, this work will end up concentrated mostly around the East, South East and South West of England.
Alongside the jobs data, the think tank recommends accelerating the benefits of homegrown green energy to reduce the need for imports.
This includes through more ambitious targets to expand British onshore and offshore wind; supporting companies to invest in green skills via the tax system; and setting a 2035 phase out date for gas power.
Sam Alvis, head of economy at Green Alliance, said: “Lower prices is only one way to tackle the cost of living, the other is to get people into better paid more secure jobs. Thankfully, a national mission on low carbon energy will do both. But the government needs to unleash the potential of green energy to create a bonanza of secure jobs in green energy and support businesses and workers to get the skills they need.”
The report follows new polling by Public First for Green Alliance which reveals very strong public support for green energy, with 76 per cent believing it to be the best route to self-sufficiency and 72 per cent saying it’s the way to bring down bills.