UK jobs in the renewable energy sector have fallen by about 30% since 2015, according to a report from the Prospect union.
The ‘What happened to all the green jobs?’ briefing paper cites data from the Office of National Statistics between 2014 and 2017 – the latest year for which figures are available.
It said direct employment across offshore and onshore wind, solar, bioenergy and other renewables was about 26,200 in 2017, down from 36,700 in 2014.
Only jobs in the offshore wind sector had increased over the period – to 7200 from 6300.
Onshore wind jobs fell to 5300 in 2017 from 7000 in 2014, while solar dropped to 4700 from 9800 and bioenergy declined to 7400 from 11000, the report said.
It blamed the fall on a lower than expected volume of projects and a lower than anticipated UK share of value created by the renewables industry.
In order to create more jobs in the renewables sector the report called for a “real green industrial strategy” with the government taking a more active and interventionist role in the sector.
Prospect also said there should be more effective and equitable use of public money in the clean power sector.
It said subsidies to developers have not been spent in the UK to generate jobs and local investment.
“The government should therefore seriously consider funding renewables deployment as part of normal government expenditure – this would be much more equitable and would unlock far greater resources to spend on renewables projects,” the report said.
It also called for a “social partnership and greater trade union access” in the industry.
This should involve giving unions “guaranteed full rights of access across the renewables sector and a central role in supporting the development of the industry through a social partnership approach with employers”.
The Contract for Difference process also should include minimum labour standards and full recognition of trade unions, Prospect said.