The labour party leader has pledged to create one million new green jobsThe Labour party has targeted on million new “green jobs” and establish the UK as a “world leader” in low carbon technologies over the next decade.
The target has been included as part of Labour’s 2015 election manifesto, launched by party leader at an event in Manchester.
Attention Recruiters
See Live Jobs on SplitFee.org – Don’t Miss Out
It’s FREE if you Join Now!
The manifesto includes a section that says that tackling climate change is an “economic necessity” for the next government and that Labour would commit to ambitious carbon reduction targets and that it would include a legal target to remove carbon from the UK’s energy supply by 2030.
New powers would be granted to the Green Investment Bank, allowing it to invest in new green and renewable energy businesses and technologies, which a timetable firmed up should the party assume control at the general election.
Climate-KIC UK director Richard Templer told Solar Power Portal it was “encouraging” for Labour’s manifesto to recognise the role low carbon technologies can play in job creation.
“Big ideas on mitigating and adapting to climate change are the oxygen to feed the UK’s leadership in that market. Climate-KIC UK’s record; that 88% of start-ups exiting our accelerator pipeline have won £1m+ of seed funding shows that, with the right support, we can make the UK a leader in the carbon-constrained economy,” Templer said.
However the Renewable Energy Association warned that Labour’s aim to create 1 million green jobs was an “ambitious” one.
James Court, head of external affairs at the REA, added: “In order to succeed, we will need to really harness future technologies that the UK can excel in, such as solar, storage and marine, as well maximising technologies such as energy from waste, biomass and anaerobic digestion which are perfectly suited to the UK’s wider economy,”
