Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) Newsletter – ‘Energy Special Edition’ – April 2022:

Greener Jobs Alliance (GJA) Newsletter – ‘Energy Special Edition’ – April 2022:

Introduction

The Greener Jobs Alliance was launched to promote skills training and job creation to meet the needs of Britain’s rapidly growing low carbon sectors and to green the whole economy. The transition to a low carbon and resource efficient economy can drive sustainable economic recovery and job creation in every part of the country as well as making existing jobs more secure. But this requires a more strategic national and local approach to deliver the workforce skills needed and to stimulate demand for clean energy and energy efficiency services.

The Greener Jobs Alliance liaises at a national and local level to build the broadest possible support for the policies, investment, partnerships and commitments needed to drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

The Greener Jobs Alliance liaises with training bodies, colleges, universities, employers, local and national Government, trade unions, housing associations, campaign and community groups – to build the policies, investment and partnerships needed to drive the transition to a low carbon economy.

The GJA runs a number of ‘free’ courses on the environment for Trade Union Reps in different parts of the UK which have been attended by a number of CWU Reps. See details below.

The GJA came into existence as a result of funding from Battersea and Wandsworth TUC.

The founder GJA Secretary and Newsletter editor was Graham Petersen who is well known to the CWU and has a long standing working relationship with the Union. He is a former TUC tutor and course designer who created safety reps training courses and the successful TUC Occupational Health & Safety Diploma Course. He was the head of the Trade Union Studies Centre at South Thames College before retirement from the post and has been a visitor and guest speaker at CWU events and meetings. After 30 editions, Graham stood down at the GJA AGM last year and has handed over to Paul Atkin as newsletter editor and Tahir Latif as GJA Secretary. Graham remains a GJA Steering Group member and is now working part time for the Wales TUC having recently written a publication for them ‘Greener workplaces for a just transition – a Wales TUC toolkit for trade unionists’.

See Attached Copy Of The GJA Newsletter – ‘Energy Special Edition’ – April 2022:

In the previous Newsletter No.37, the GJA editor Paul Atkin wrote a piece entitled “The Price of Gas” talking about the violent upward twist in the cost of living from the spikes in oil and gas prices resulting from the recovery from the Covid recession, overlaid by the impact of the Ukraine war, leading countries in Europe sharply accelerating plans to shift to renewables and gas prices rising from £13.50 per Kilowatt hour last January to as much as £290 per KWh now!

Following the release of the UK Government’s energy strategy, the Greener Jobs Alliance has produced an “Energy Special” Newsletter – copy attached.

In this “Energy Special” GJA Newsletter editor Paul Atkin focuses on the Government’s claims in its new energy strategy that it will provide cleaner and more affordable energy this decade – something we’ve all heard before says Paul adding; “The Government’s 2011 plan “Planning our Electric Future for affordable and low carbonelectricity” was cut two years later, watering down sustainable building standards and so here we are again and the new strategy states that the Government will “accelerate the deployment of wind, new nuclear, solar and hydrogen, whilst supporting the production of domestic oil and gas”; – all at the same time. Just like that! Absent from the plan is insulating our building stock which would create jobs and save energy. The £6.6 billion earmarked “to improve energy efficiency and decarbonise heating over this parliament” is nowhere near enough to upgrade the half a million homes the Government has targeted, let alone the 19 million homes that need it.”

Contents:

Energy Strategy; 12 Wasted Years
IEA 10-point Plan
Stats of the month
Corporate Courts vs the climate

Quote of the Month “The truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuel infrastructure is moral and economic madness”. António Guterres, UN Secretary General.

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