RenewableUK has welcomed the UK Government’s commitment to green job creation in the Queen’s Speech earlier today.
The Queen’s Speech referenced Boris Johnson’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution over the next decade that will mobilise £12bn of government investment and could unlock three times as much private sector investment by 2030 to create “thousands of highly-skilled green jobs, build back a greener economy and level up opportunity across the country”.
It also reiterated that new offshore wind ports have been selected that will support up to 60,000 jobs and pointed to the upcoming Energy White Paper which sets out policies that will support up to 220,000 jobs by 2030, plus the Industrial Decarbonisation Strategy that could support up to 80,000 jobs to 2050.
RenewableUK public affairs head Nathan Bennett said: “It’s great to see the Government putting job creation and in particular the development of new skills and training at the heart of their policy agenda, as part of the green economic recovery after the pandemic.
“The number of people working in the UK’s offshore wind is set to increase from 26,000 currently to over 69,000 over the next five years.”
The Cut Carbon Not Forests coalition said the Government’s net zero plans outlined in the Queen’s Speech are “nothing short of climate hypocrisy” as the UK spends £3m a day subsidising large power plants that burn biomass with most subsidies going towards burning wood imported from overseas forests at Drax Power Station.
Sasha Stashwick, senior advocate at NRDC and member of the Cut Carbon Not Forests coalition, said: “Drax’s lobbying of officials, MPs and peers in favour of burning trees from overseas for electricity is lining the pockets of company executives and shareholders and should give major cause for concern.
“The even bigger scandal is that any public money is being spent by Government to prop up a business that exacerbates climate change, harms forests, threatens wildlife and emits deadly air pollution.
“By continuing to fund the cutting down of and burning of trees instead of investing in real renewables, the Government is contradicting its commitment to achieving Net Zero, protecting biodiversity and addressing deforestation.”