Report launch on UK workers and the low-carbon transition
Members of the Centre for Employment Relations, Innovation and Change have launched a new report on UK workers and the green economy.
The study, which was funded by the UKRI Research England Strategic Priority Fund, aims to inform policy-makers in the area of green jobs and skills and the ‘greening of jobs’ through understanding worker positions on climate change and the ways they can be more effectively engaged in processes that support the green transition. The report makes distinctions between workers in high emitting sectors and other sectors and can thus contribute to a better understanding what is needed in sectors on which is the most pressure to decarbonise.
Dr Jo Cutter comments: “The scale of the challenge to reduce carbon emissions is unprecedented and requires significant changes to the way economies and societies are organised. This also requires innovation in the ways different groups connect and collaborate to affect that change.”
Professor Vera Trappmann adds: “Our findings show that the recent U-turn by the Prime Minister on the climate mitigation strategy does not meet the expectations of workers, who are ready and willing to work in greener jobs. The new climate U-turn will be a missed opportunity for workers.”
Dr Cutter presented findings from the report at the North Green Skills conference in Manchester in October and will also be sharing the results at the upcoming “Working for Climate Justice: trade unions in the front line against climate change” conference in London later this month.
