How to Plan Fair and Successful Paths to Net Zero Emissions Fifth Draft Edit Your Long Report Main Title Here
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Voice and Place: How to plan fair and successful paths to net zero emissions Fifth Draft Edit your long report main title here Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................................ 3 How to achieve a just transition to a net zero economy across the regions and nations .... 3 1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................................... 6 The climate emergency ................................................................................................................................... 6 Trade unions and a just transition ............................................................................................................... 7 2. UK climate change policy – a short history ....................................................................................... 9 Background .......................................................................................................................................................... 9 The Climate Change Act ............................................................................................................................... 10 The Clean Growth Strategy ......................................................................................................................... 10 The industrial strategy .................................................................................................................................. 11 Net zero .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 The Conservative manifesto 2019 ............................................................................................................ 12 3. The UK and the regions and nations .................................................................................................. 13 The role of cities .............................................................................................................................................. 13 Why do companies locate where they do? .......................................................................................... 14 National, regional and economic policy ................................................................................................ 14 4. Case study one: Yorkshire and the Humber .................................................................................... 16 Background ....................................................................................................................................................... 16 5. Case study two: the North of England ............................................................................................... 23 6. Case study three: the Midlands ............................................................................................................ 30 7. Case study four: the North West .......................................................................................................... 39 8. Case study five: Wales .............................................................................................................................. 47 9. Conclusions and recommendations ................................................................................................... 55 Recommendations for national government ....................................................................................... 56 Regional job creation in UK wide infrastructure projects ............................................................... 63 Recommendations for regional, sub-regional and local policy .................................................... 65 Appendix one: Wales’s national policy ........................................................................................................ 68 Appendix two: regional employment creation from a Covid-19 clean infrastructure stimulus: analysis from Transition Economics ............................................................................................................. 70 Research questions ........................................................................................................................................ 70 2 Executive summary Climate change is the most pressing existential threat facing the planet. In an attempt to meet this threat, the 2015 Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 summit in Paris agreed to try to limit global warming to 1.5 per cent above pre-industrial levels. This is a stretching target; success requires cuts of carbon dioxide emissions by 45 per cent by 2030. We do not have long, yet a failure to meet this threat is unthinkable. The UK government is committed to a ‘net zero carbon’ economy by 2050. The TUC strongly supports this target, but we believe that meeting it requires a reset of the way we live and work. Get it right and we can develop new, innovative industrial sectors providing great new jobs. Get it wrong and those working in fossil fuel sectors of the economy will lose their jobs and livelihoods, with only low skill, low value jobs to replace them. It is for this reason that trade unions call for a ‘just transition’ to a net zero economy. The economy of the UK varies greatly by region and nation. For this reason, a just transition may look very different in different parts of the country. This report heard from trade unionists in four UK regions – the North, the North West, the Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber – as well as Wales, to understand the history and culture of those places, as well as to identify the opportunities and threats of the move to net zero, in terms of jobs and skills. We demonstrate the expert knowledge of trade union full time and lay officials, using that knowledge to provide practical and achievable policy recommendations whilst also highlighting, yet again, why trade union voice should become an established feature of UK industrial policy, as it is in the industrial policies of so many of our continental neighbours. How to achieve a just transition to a net zero economy across the regions and nations A just transition will require different policy levers at different levels. Industrial policy is crucial to achieving both a just transition and net zero. Industrial policy works at the national, regional and local level. At the national level, the government needs a co-ordinated industrial strategy which includes the following elements: • An integrated energy policy with a long-term plan for how to reach net zero • Support for specific industries • Investment to support these priorities, with a clear focus on good jobs • An integrated skills policy • A Just Transition commission to ensure that workers’ voice is central to guiding these policies. 3 The Committee on Climate Change has reviewed the scientific evidence on how best to deliver the change we need and now needs to build a consensus on how this change should be delivered so that it works for workers and consumers alike. The Just Transition Commission we set out below should advise the government on long-term energy strategy, involving affected workers, unions, industries and consumers, to plan a path that will deliver a just transition to a clean, affordable and reliable energy supply for the future alongside reductions in emissions. The TUC supports a balanced energy policy which enables us to meet out net zero commitments. Key technologies focused on by unions in this report include Carbon Capture Storage and Use (CCSU), which was highlighted by trade unions in the Northern and the Yorkshire and Humber regions as being key to a just transition in their areas. Nuclear energy was highlighted in the North West and is an integral part of a net zero carbon energy policy. Trade unions call for a net zero roadmap that embeds a fully integrated, whole systems approach, including nuclear energy at scale, with direct government investment in order to create high quality employment. The UK is a world leader in offshore wind, but whilst it is great news that turbine blades are built on Humberside, the turbines themselves are built overseas. This is a missed opportunity for the UK economy and a more mature industrial strategy is necessary to change this. Hydrogen technology has the potential to play a key role in achieving our net zero targets, as well as to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of high-quality jobs across the country. A cross-departmental hydrogen strategy must be developed between government, industry and unions. Battery technology will be vital to the Midlands, the North East and Wales, given their historic motor industries. The UK’s decision to phase out petrol and diesel engines by 2035 means that companies such as Toyota, Vauxhall, Ford and Nissan face a massive threat – but also a massive opportunity if we can develop the battery technology here in the UK. Meanwhile, buying steel from China can produce up to fifty time more carbon than sourcing from the UK, so this is important from the perspective of both UK – and particularly Welsh industry - and environmental objectives. Steel producers join the ceramics sector, based mainly in the Midlands, in highlighting the imbalance between the price they pay for electricity and that paid by overseas competitors. Government investment in support of these sectors must prioritise