Tag: jobs

Windows of Opportunity 

22nd December 2023

Jobs for all in a just transition 

As steel plants in the UK switch to electric arc furnaces and the production of green steel, there is likely to be a loss of 5000 jobs. (1) (2)(3)  During the slump in the demand for oil during Covid, 2000 jobs were on the line at BP alone. (4) If as is needed, oil production declines there will be job losses. 

Similar job losses happened when the UK transitioned away from coal, when the UK lost most of its ship building industry, its motor industry etc. 

But need it be so? Surely the green industry offers many new job opportunities 

Equally a better financed public sector could – and should – provide well paid and well respected jobs in health care, social care, education, transport, etc. 

Friends of the Earth recommend both an apprenticeship scheme to give young people training in job skills that have a long term future, and in investing in new green jobs.

“Green jobs are jobs that have a focus on either reducing carbon emissions, restoring nature or making similar environmental improvements. Sustainability managers in businesses,  green transport officers and thermal heating specialists are all examples of green jobs. If we’re to create a greener and fairer future for all after the pandemic, we need more green jobs. Not only will they be good for the planet, they can also help address employment inequalities across the country.

The UK government should invest up to £10 billion over the next 5 years to create 250,000 green apprenticeships in England and Wales, with wage subsidies of 50-100% depending on need. “Devolved nations should receive equivalent funding for programmes within their borders.

Alongside green apprenticeships, we’re also calling for the government to fund £40 billion annually in a green infrastructure investment programme that could create more than 1 million jobs for people of all ages, saving the NHS tens of billions of pounds and delivering other significant benefits like healthier air and warmer homes.

“ Not only do green jobs present a golden opportunity to reverse unemployment, they’re also basic common sense. Right now, young people are being taught and given careers advice on jobs that may not even exist in 10 years’ time. We’re setting them up to fail where we could be training them to succeed.” (5)

(1) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/oct/22/british-steel-owner-preparing-to-cut-as-many-as-2000-jobs-report-says?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

(2) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/15/tata-steel-seals-500m-uk-support-package-but-big-job-losses-feared?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

(3) https://neweconomics.org/2023/11/a-just-transition-will-require-steely-resolve-from-policy-makers

(4)  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/explainers-52966609

(5) https://friendsoftheearth.uk/climate/whats-green-job-and-how-can-we-create-more-the

Counting on … day 1.216

15th November 2023

At a time when there may be fewer jobs in UK-based mining and steel making, there are opportunities for more people to work in the forestry industry. 

At a recent Forestry Conference, Chris Williams the CEO of the Royal Forestry Society commented that a “Lack of woodland management is a major cause of biodiversity loss in the UK. We have a skills shortage. Between 2021 and 2025, 10 per cent of forestry workers will retire.” 

The Forestry Journal goes on to report on possible solutions that were discussed:- 

“What can we do?  Increase the number of forestry courses. Include forestry/agroforestry modules within land-management courses. Run courses where they are easier to reach (London/Birmingham). Offer a graduate conversion course, a PGCF (a postgraduate certificate in forestry?) and work with the EFRA committee and the agricultural sector. Adapt: create new pathways into the industry for the neurodiverse, care leavers and ex-military personnel: promote the positives: improve pay.”

“The RFS offers career roadshows, blogs celebrating women in forestry, careers advice. They develop pathways into industry with universities and participate in the Forestry Skills Forum. “The Green Tree badge initiative hopes to engage one million children (via school, Scouts, Guides, or family) in activities that raise awareness of forestry. If you don’t reach that eight-year-old, you won’t reach the 18 -year-old. Make it easier to find the sector and for people to get on board.” (1) 

  1. (https://www.forestryjournal.co.uk/features/forestry-journal-features/23914844.forestry-conference-2023-focuses-industry-skill-shortages/)

Counting on … day 1.214

13th November 2023

Earlier this month I wrote about plans for switching from coal fired to electric fired furnaces for producing steel. It is an essential move in terms of reducing green house gas emissions, but it comes with complications – the electric furnaces need a smaller workforce so new jobs needed in other parts of the economy; the electric furnaces use recycled metal rather than raw ore which is a good thing in terms of reducing unsustainable consumption of raw materials but does need us now to have better systems for collecting and recycling unwanted metal; and a reduction in demand for coal:

“Electric arc furnaces require only 9kg of coking coal a tonne of steel against 780kg for a tonne of blast furnace steel, according to the lobby group UK Steel. British blast furnaces produced 4.8m tonnes of steel in 2022, suggesting they may have used 3.7m tonnes of coking coal. Based on UK Steel’s figures, producing the same amount of steel in electric arc furnaces would require only 43,000 tonnes of coal, or about 1.7% of the Cumbrian mine’s output.” (1)

This must call into question whether there is any sense of continuing with the creation of the West Cumbrian coal mine. But equally it points to the need to develop other parts of our economy to create employment and to use the skills that people have.

 (1) https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/07/fresh-calls-to-scrap-cumbrian-coalmine-amid-steel-industrys-green-push