A Fabian environment policy seminar 

Tuesday, 28th September 2010, Manchester  

Chairing the event was chaired by Tim Horton, Research Director of the Fabian Society, who was joined by Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Shadow Minister of State for the Department of Energy and Climate Change; Tony Hawkhead, Chief Executive of Groundwork UK and Michael Jacobs, a former special adviser to No.10. 

A comprehensive account was given of what precisely constitutes a “green job”. These can be either jobs in industries that are working towards supplying low-carbon energy, or jobs which are involved in the natural world, or finally jobs that are emerging as a result of new environmental policy enacted by government. 

The roundtable demonstrated various ways of approaching the challenge of creating a vibrant green economy, from the “macro” structural angle to the “micro” behavioural angle. 

From the structural angle, there was concern expressed that the work of the previous Government may be abandoned. For instance, no one knows what will happen to the funding structure, established by Labour, for carbon capture and storage. There was also a general concern that the Coalition Government, despite its claim to be the greenest government ever, has not yet made any serious announcements, with the assumption that everyone is just having to ‘wait and see’. The Green Investment Bank sounds like a good idea, but there is a danger that it simply will not have any money.

The previous Government’s Regional Development Agencies, and the generally active industrial policy led by Peter Mandelson in the last years of the Labour government, enabled a macro-level policy towards a low-carbon economy to be pursued. Again, there is a serious danger that the good work inherent in this approach – from the targets which encouraged demand for low-carbon technology to the focus on supplying the materials for green industry from within Britain – would be abandoned or undone by the new Government. Given the parlous nature of the country’s finances, the argument needs to be made that low-carbon technologies have been driving growth and innovation, and therefore provide a potential route out of the economic doldrums – but green industry needs support from government to become established.

From the behavioural angle, it was suggested that the voluntary sector has a crucial role in helping people change behaviour, for instance in encouraging the three million households in Britain which are not insulated to recognise the error of their ways. In addition, there was extensive discussion about the potential role of local government in mediating between macroeconomic strategy and ground-level behavioural change. One suggestion was that local government should be given the space to innovate and to fund green infrastructure projects. But there was concern that any targets for green jobs on the local level would cross-cut national targets and confuse the picture. 

The role of the Department for Energy and Climate Change was discussed, and there was widespread concern that it was going to be dismantled or become a mere subdivision of the Treasury, thereby demonstrating again the potentially low priority that the Coalition Government is placing on the green agenda.

Finally, several contributors pointed out that the future of this issue depends on political campaigning and political pressure – roundtable participants therefore encouraged each other to remain focused on their goals. The election of Ed Miliband, former Climate Change Secretary, as Labour leader, was seen as grounds for optimism.