11. The Green Economy

This handbook demonstrates that unions view climate change as a positive opportunity to make a difference at work. But greening the workplace is just one aspect of union leadership in facing new challenges for the future. If we work together, with the right level of investment in green jobs, new skills and infrastructure, then climate change can bring opportunities across every sphere of the economy — manufacturing, power supply, transport, public services.

The green economy provides a clear alternative to austerity and unemployment. A million employees work in the UK’s green industries and services, from making and installing solar panels or wind turbines, to electric cars and environmental protection. The renewable energy industry alone employs over 110,000 people, from wind farms and solar power to organic waste collectors and recyclers. The Renewable Energy Association reckons the sector’s turnover will reach £24 billion by 2020, providing over 400,000 jobs. But with the economy stagnating and unemployment at a 19-year high of 2.6 million, a green economic transformation in the UK, and globally, is urgently needed.

The rapid shift to a green economy is essential if we are to tackle climate change and meet the UK’s challenging targets to cut our carbon emissions. Our bigger picture of the green economy involves a whole range of union campaigns on green jobs, skills, training, energy supply, fuel poverty, green taxes, green travel and transport. Many of these start with resolutions at union conferences and the TUC’s annual Congress.

The TUC and its affiliated unions are committed to taking forward these and other demands in a wide-ranging strategy engaging unions from the workplace to the national level. In consultation with its affiliates, the TUC makes regular representations to government and industry on green jobs and skills, making the case for investment and green growth.