Labour to kick-start a green jobs revolution, Jeremy Corbyn to tell conference

In his leader’s speech at Labour Party Conference in Liverpool tomorrow (Wednesday), Jeremy Corbyn will announce that the next Labour government will “kickstart a green jobs revolution”, as part of a plan to rebuild and transform Britain.

Corbyn will say Britain needs a Government “committed to investing in renewables, in jobs and in training.”

Labour will work with industry and unions to invest in jobs and training, with a plan to reduce net carbon emissions by 60% by 2030 and zero by 2050.

On the basis of research by energy experts and economists for the Labour Party published today, that will create over 400,000 skilled jobs, based in Britain and on union rates.

Corbyn will say will this major investment, driven by Labour's national transformation fund, will bring “skills and security to communities held back for too long.” The investment will be focused on offshore and onshore wind, solar energy and home energy efficiency. The insulation programme will create 160,000 jobs alone, spread across the UK.

Labour has used its annual conference in Liverpool to announce a series of new policies to rebuild and transform Britain, held back by deindustrialisation and eight years of austerity, “offering the radical plan we need to rebuild and transform Britain” as “the old way of running things isn’t working anymore.”

Corbyn will hit out at the “greed-is-good, deregulated financial capitalism” which ten years ago “came crashing to earth, with devastating consequences for millions of people”.

The Labour leader will say “the political and corporate establishment strained every sinew to bail out and prop up the system that led to the crash in the first place”, and that “unless we offer radical solutions, others will fill the gap with the politics of blame and division.”

On creating 400,000 skilled green jobs, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to say:

“There is no bigger threat facing humanity than climate change. We must lead by example.

“Our energy plans would make Britain the only developed country outside Scandinavia to be on track to meet our climate change obligations.

“That means working with unions representing the workforce to ensure jobs and skills are protected as we move towards a low-carbon economy.

“And it means working with industry to change the way we build, and to train the workforce to retrofit homes and work in the industries we will build.

“It needs a government committed to investing in renewables, in jobs and in training.

“I can announce today that Labour will kickstart a green jobs revolution.

"Our programme of investment and transformation to achieve a 60% reduction in emissions by 2030 will create over 400,000 skilled jobs, based here and on union rates, bringing skills and security to communities held back for too long.”

On rebuilding Britain for the many not the few, Jeremy Corbyn is expected to say:

“Ten years ago this month, the whole edifice of greed-is-good, deregulated financial capitalism, lauded for a generation as the only way to run a modern economy, came crashing to earth, with devastating consequences.

”But instead of making essential changes to a broken economic system, the political and corporate establishment strained every sinew to bail out and prop up the system that led to the crash in the first place.

“People in this country know - they showed that in June last year - that the old way of running things isn’t working any more.

"That's why Labour is offering a radical plan to rebuild and transform Britain."

Ends

Notes to editors

• ·       Climate change is at the heart of our industrial strategy, setting a target for 60% of our heat and electricity to come from low carbon or renewable sources by 2030.

• ·       A team of independent expert researchers has found that:

• o   The target is feasible in 12 years
• o   The target is essential to meet our Paris obligation
• o   Delivering the target will create a huge economic stimulus for the UK, creating new, quality jobs and driving investment, particularly into areas that have been left behind since deindustrialisation, and ending fuel poverty

• ·       The recommended pathway to meeting the target involves:

• o   Increasing the share of electricity coming from low carbon or renewable sources from 50% to 85%
• o   Increasing the share of heat coming from low carbon or renewable sources from almost nothing to 44%
• o   Reducing heat demand from buildings by a quarter

• ·       An interim briefing setting out some of the high-level findings of this work, which has been carried out by a group of climate engineers and scientists, is being published today https://www.labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Achieving-6025-by-2030-final-version.pdf
• ·       The briefing sets out four aspects of delivering on this target:

• o   A sevenfold increase in offshore wind
• o   Doubling onshore wind
• o   A trebling of solar
• o   Making all homes energy efficient

• ·       The researchers estimate that these four actions alone would create a green jobs revolution, with an additional 410,000 good jobs spread right across the UK.
• ·       This investment will be delivered through public and private funding. For example:

• o   Labour has set aside £12.8bn in our National Transformation Fund to cover the insulation programme in our first term. This combines full subsidies for low income owner-occupiers and social housing, zero interest loans to “able to pay” homeowners and landlords of “able to pay” tenants, and capital subsidies for landlords with low income tenants.
• o   Other costs will be covered by the private sector. For example, changing planning guidance for onshore wind will encourage private investment in onshore wind. Strengthening regulations for the private rented sector will require landlords to invest more in retrofitting.

• ·       The full findings, which set out decarbonisation pathways across the energy system, including other generation technologies such as tidal, nuclear, and hydrogen, will be published in a full technical report later in the year. 
• ·       Labour is working closely with trade unions representing energy workers to protect workers and communities affected by energy transition
• ·       Tory cuts to support for solar led to the loss of 12,000 jobs in 2016 https://www.pwc.co.uk/power-utilities/assets/solar-report-2016.pdf
• ·       A leaked draft of an IPCC report expected in October found that:

• o   The world is not currently on track to keep to 1.5 degrees.
• o   As a result of this, large parts of the planet will become uninhabitable, major ecosystems like coral reefs and some food systems will collapse, and all inhabited areas will experience hots extremes and heavy precipitation events
• o   http://www.climatechangenews.com/2018/06/27/new-leaked-draft-of-un-1-5c-climate-report-in-full-and-annotated/

• ·       10% of the global population cause 50% of emissions while the poorest 50% contribute just 10%