Latest news with #greenjobs
BBC News
6 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Consultation opens on Wolverhampton's "green corridor "
Public consultation has started over how the first phase of Wolverhampton's Green Innovation Corridor (GIC) will brownfield sites, known as Six Mile Green, near the University of Wolverhampton Science Park, are to be developed as part of the multi-million-pound project which has a focus on green construction, engineering, computing and city council has said the GIC would create more than 700 jobs by supporting new, green could now have their say online over designs for the first phase, and attend an exhibition and drop-in event in the coming days, the council said. The GIC will connect "key assets" at the university's Springfield Campus, Science Park, and the i54 advanced manufacturing business project has received £27m in funding from the government and been given West Midlands Investment Zone status, which will yield capital funding, business support and skills feedback is collated, a hybrid planning application will be submitted covering clearance of the site, infrastructure and enabling works, and outline plans for new buildings, the authority has plans are approved, then West Midlands Investment Zone funding will be used to carry out pre-construction works by March 2027. In May, at the UK's Real Estate Investment and Infrastructure Forum in Leeds, firms were encouraged by the council to move to the Chris Burden, cabinet member for city development, jobs and skills, said: "Bringing forward these designs for consultation is the next step towards our goal of securing the planning permission for Six Mile Green that will facilitate enabling works and ultimately attract developer interest."The university, according to its chief operating officer Pete Cross, is "proud" to be a key partner in the project."We are working closely with our colleagues at the City of Wolverhampton Council to develop an exciting and ambitious business community that will drive growth in green technologies and advanced manufacturing, directly contributing to the net zero agenda and creating high-value jobs for our communities."The exhibition at University of Wolverhampton Science Park will run from 28 July until 1 August and a public drop-in event there will be held on 30 July between 16:00 and 20:00 BST. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Labour must create green jobs or lose voters to parties who oppose net zero, unions warn
The Labour government needs to ramp up the creation of green jobs or risk workers being tempted to vote for parties opposing the shift to net zero, two major unions have said. The GMB and Prospect, who between them represent tens of thousands of energy workers, said there needs to be more of a focus on increasing green jobs as fossil fuel industry is increasingly phased out. They said without more tangible progress there is a danger of public support for the transition to clean energy being undermined – and potentially voters opting for a new government that does not support net zero. Their intervention comes after Reform UK pledged to rip up green energy contracts if the party wins power and the Conservatives also shifted away from support for net zero earlier this year, showing the political arguments over the shift to green jobs are not settled. Launching a new campaign group called Climate Jobs UK, Gary Smith, the general secretary of GMB union, said: 'How the UK makes the transition to net zero is hugely important. The voices of those working in the energy sector day in, day out, who have vast experience of dealing with change, need to be front and centre of the process. If not, it's doomed to fail. 'At the moment, the transition feels like something being done to workers – that can't continue. People need to see real jobs created where they live, and their local economy boosted, or we're going to see more and more tempted by the siren calls of those who deny the reality of climate change.' The campaign will aim to put energy workers and jobs at the centre of the UK's debate on decarbonisation. Unions say it is needed because they want more to be done to ensure good jobs are created in low carbon energy, and the government's industrial strategy focuses on supporting workers and communities who will see a decline in jobs in industries that are being phased out. GMB and Prospect said new research commissioned from YouGov shows that 55% of the public want to see jobs and the economy prioritised, while 17% of those surveyed said they would put the need for speed first. Only three in ten voters thought the energy transition would have a positive impact on job opportunities in the UK, and this fell to two in ten when asked about jobs in their own local area. Fewer than one in ten voters said the transition had led to more job opportunities in their area so far. The research found that overall the public feel more positively than negatively about the energy transition by 55% to 16% but that Reform voters have markedly more negative views at 48% and the party is seeking to capitalise on discontent in communities where the energy industry is declining. Mike Clancy, the general secretary of Prospect, said the biggest challenge with the energy transition 'is no longer climate technology, it is climate jobs'. 'We are going to need tens of thousands of workers to deliver this huge shift in the way we produce and use energy. Building on the clean energy industrial strategy, the opportunity is to deliver good, clean energy jobs for the people and places that most need them,' he said. 'But this research shows that people aren't yet seeing those jobs materialise, and if this continues then it will undermine support for the transition and drive people towards parties who oppose it and would put the future of the industry at risk. 'The government have raised the ambition on energy policy, which is welcome, now they need to be bigger and bolder when it comes to energy jobs and put energy workers at the heart of this agenda.' The Climate Jobs UK campaign will be supported by the Climate Jobs National Resource Center, which worked with unions in the US to run campaigns on how to create good union jobs while tackling the climate crisis.
Telegraph
09-07-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Britain will bankrupt itself before it admits the truth about net zero
It would lower energy costs. It would create hundreds of thousands of 'well-paid green jobs '. And it would turn Britain into a global leader in a series of major new industries. For more than a decade, we have been lectured that creating a net zero economy would pay for itself many times over. But hold on. Yesterday, the Office for Budget Responsibility admitted that it would cost £800 billion over the next two decades. Seriously? The blunt truth is this. For a country already drowning in debt, which can't even save £5 billion a year in welfare reforms, and where taxes have already been pushed to the maximum limits, that is an impossible sum of money. It is surely now official – we can't afford it. The OBR is hardly the home of climate denial fanatics. It represents the mainstream, consensus view of the policy establishment. Even so, its report this week laid bare the real cost of net zero. It reckons it will drain the Treasury of £30 billion a year up until 2015. It will require huge investments and subsidies, while fuel duty will be lost as electric vehicles replace petrol cars. Add it up, and the total comes to £800 billion. And of course, it may well go a lot higher.
News24
08-07-2025
- Business
- News24
Biochar boom? SA bets on super charcoal for green jobs
The country's coal jobs on the line. Biochar is seen as a green job creator. Scarce data on biochar poses a challenge. Sithandekile Nyathi confidently hoists herself into the compact loader, lowers the metal caging around the vehicle and drives towards large mounds of wood timber chips. The chips eventually go up a conveyer belt into a converter, where they are heated and turned into a type of 'biochar' called activated carbon, a charcoal that stores carbon and could help to cut planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions. 'I used to be a maid, I never thought I would work in an industry that also helps lives and helps the environment,' said Nyathi, a controller at the plant in Brakpan on the East Rand. It is owned by Adsorb, an SA manufacturer of activated carbon. Said Nyathi: SA is a coal-rich country but has been the poster child for international efforts to shift towards cleaner energy and industries. But funding challenges, high unemployment rate and a political divide have stalled these efforts, raising questions about how this transition should happen. Darryl Phipps, a chemical engineer and the manager of the Adsorb plant where Nyathi works, believed the plant was the first of its kind globally. This is because it uses self-sustaining energy – the heat in the converter – to turn wood chips directly into activated charcoal or steam-activated biochar, which allows for greater binding of organic molecules to its surface and has clean flue gas as its only byproduct. Statista / Kim Harrisberg Some proponents see the biochar sector as one answer to both job creation and carbon capture, but the young industry is struggling with a lack of SA data and funding support, experts say. Globally, the industry was valued $600 million (R10.6 billion) in 2023, up 97% from 2021, according to the International Biochar Initiative (IBI). Biochar and activated carbon have been praised by some researchers, farmers and industry experts for improving soil quality and water retention, absorbing toxins and capturing carbon. When used as a fertiliser, biochar improves water-holding capacity, which helps plants survive drought conditions, according to research published in the Frontiers journal. Initial studies into SA's agricultural sector have shown that biochar improved both maize yield and soil health, but researchers have called for further, long-term research, according to the University of Venda. The department of forestry, fisheries and the environment did not respond to requests for comment on the size and prospects for the country's biochar sector. But workers such as Nyathi are hopeful. 'If the company grows, I grow with the company,' she said. Carbon capture and job creation SA's high unemployment rates, funding cuts and size of the coal industry have slowed down the move towards clean energy and green jobs. Phipps said Adsorb's converter could be replicable in other parts of the country and the world. Adsorb uses wood chips from pallet repair centres that originally come from responsibly managed forests. When the wood is heated at 1 000°C, the gas generated first makes biochar and then activated charcoal. Activated charcoal has more adsorption capacity than biochar and can also be used as industrial pollutant removal, according to the academic journal Science of the Total Environment. The gas generated is then incinerated to create clean thermal energy and Adsorb is looking to recover this into electricity, said Phipps. Adsorb captured about 750 tons of CO₂ last year and supplies activated charcoal to fertiliser, animal feed and cosmetic industries and has eyes on water treatment, mine rehabilitation and cleaning mercury out of coal gas. 'Processing centres could be established in areas where there were previously mines or coal plants. This could involve communities generating biomass and supplying it to these processing centres. If enough plants are rolled out it could eventually create jobs in the tens of thousands. Darryl Phipps Data and funding needs Despite the enthusiasm, experts said data on biochar is scarce and estimates on the size of the market in SA vary widely, potentially due to different classifications of what constitutes biochar. Romain Pirard, an environmental economist from the School for Climate Studies at Stellenbosch University, said to his knowledge there is 'no centralisation of information or any sort of policy specific to biochar'. Finding willing customers is also a challenge for the promotion of biochar, said Phipps. Farmers are extremely cost-sensitive and if there's anything that increases the cost, it damages the sales potential. Darryl Phipps Pirard said subsidies to incentivise farmers 'to use biochar in place of chemical fertilisers' – and using invasive, alien trees as a form of biomass – could help biochar 'take off'. The department of environmental affairs said in a 2015 report that 'consideration could be given by government to subsidising' small biochar businesses. The department did not immediately respond to the Thomson Reuters Foundation's request for a comment. Despite showing potential as a green job creator, attempts to create a biochar association to centralise data and information on initiatives have not led anywhere and the feasibility of the sector 'remains to be demonstrated', Pirard said. But Phipps is adamant they are on to something big – if more funding is made available. 'From my children's perspective, I want to leave behind a legacy, something positive that gave back rather than just extracted wealth from the world,' he said. – Thomson Reuters Foundation
Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Times
SNP transition fund spends £43m on just 110 jobs for oil workers
A fund designed to protect North Sea oil and gas workers from the SNP's net zero drive created just 110 new jobs despite spending £43 million, a new report has found. An analysis of the first two years of the Scottish government's Just Transition Fund, which is set to cost taxpayers half a billion pounds over a decade, found that it had 'safeguarded' only another 120 further existing roles. The policy, announced by Nicola Sturgeon in 2021, was intended to ensure that new green jobs are created for workers whose livelihoods depend on fossil fuel industries. A report commissioned by the Scottish government found the scheme, which backed 24 projects such as a 'sustainable' whisky distillery, an eco-tourism firm and new tidal energy research projects, could be 'a successful catalyst for economic and environmental change'. However, critics claimed that it had delivered only a 'paltry return' after the SNP repeatedly vowed that it would ensure that North Sea workers do not end up on the scrapheap as part of its plans to wind down the oil and gas industry and replace it with clean energy industries. The North Sea oil and gas industry is estimated to directly employ around 30,000 people and supports a further 100,000 indirectly. The Scottish government has said it wants to hit net zero by 2045 — five years ahead of the rest of the UK — and is sticking to the target despite repeatedly failing to hit, and then scrapping, interim targets. The analysis, carried out by the research firm Blake Stevenson Ltd, found that 47 jobs had been created through the Social Enterprise Just Transition Fund, which include positions in 'green skills training'. A handful of others were created through a nature restoration project based around the River Findhorn and an 'adventure tourism' firm. However, the report warned that many of the roles were 'temporary, project-based, or contingent on further investment' and 'may not transition into lasting opportunities'. Douglas Lumsden, the Scottish Tory net zero spokesman, said: 'This paltry return will do nothing to allay the fears of tens of thousands of highly skilled workers in Scotland's oil and gas sector. 'They know the SNP and Labour are taking a wrecking ball to their industry and this report confirms they have not got a clue how to properly protect jobs for the future. 'Taxpayers will be rightly thinking their money has typically been squandered by the SNP who must urgently shift from their current reckless approach if we are to achieve an affordable transition.' The fund was created as a counter to claims that the SNP's net zero policies, which were enthusiastically championed under Sturgeon, would cost thousands of jobs and cause devastation to the north east economy. The SNP has repeatedly claimed that it will ensure the push to net zero does not mean that communities suffer in the same way as others did under deindustrialisation under Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s. When the just transition fund was announced, ministers said they would target investment to help create 'good, green jobs' to replace those that would be lost in the North East and Moray. According to the report, the fund has also helped to leverage £30 million in private sector investment and £4.7 million from the public sector or charities. It claimed that initiatives funded by the scheme were also responsible for the training of 750 people. The report said that while the fund 'has been a successful catalyst for economic and environmental change' in the area, 'several administrative and logistical challenges have emerged'. These include uncertainty over long-term funding, confusion over the application process and a lack of clarity over funding criteria. The report said: 'Many projects remain in early stages, making it difficult to fully assess employment outcomes, carbon savings, and long-term economic benefits.' Gillian Martin, the climate action secretary, said: 'This independent report demonstrates our Just Transition Fund is a catalyst for economic growth. With £75 million allocated to the fund since 2022, the expert report makes clear it has supported job creation and re-skilling, empowered communities, catalysed private investment and initiated innovation in green technologies. 'Thanks to the Just Transition Fund, more than 230 jobs have been created and safeguarded, 750 training places opened up and over £34 million in additional investment secured in its first two years. These are the initial impacts of the fund and we are confident that job numbers, investment leveraged and other key outputs will increase as projects continue. 'This is just one example of how this government is supporting Scotland's valued and highly skilled oil and gas workers, who are at the very heart of the just transition to net zero — despite the fact that decisions on offshore oil and gas licensing, consenting and the associated fiscal regime, are all matters that are currently reserved to the UK government.'
