10. The economy

The LRD survey asked union reps and activists about the impact of the economic downturn on their employers’ commitments or plans for the environment/climate change.

Worryingly, nearly a fifth of employers (17%) had in some way amended their commitments to address environmental issues, and a further 5% had dropped their commitments altogether.

Just under half of the respondents (45%) felt that the economic situation had made no change to their employer’s commitments or plans — although 26% of respondents said their employer has never made any commitments on the environment or climate change in the first place.

Impact of the economic crisis on employer’s commitments to the environment

These responses from respondents were typical:

A PCS rep in central government: “Unfortunately climate issues are still seen as relatively unimportant, especially in the current political circumstances.”

A UNISON rep in local government: “Generally speaking I would say that my employer is mainly focused on meeting their budget cuts. Climate change used to be an issue but in the current economic climate it is rarely mentioned.”

A Prospect rep at the Ministry of Defence: “Short term financial planning limits the options considered for green energy. Uncertainty on relocations and site futures has caused procrastination over green investment.”

A PCS rep working for a government organisation: “We have a Green Team in our office who produce a newsletter, organise events, share good practice and raise concerns with management — it was set up with management’s approval, and all members used to be granted a small amount of ‘time out’ of work for this, however now we have to manage it in our own time (reason stated as due to the economic circumstances).”