The Green Party has pledged to fight for a Green Recovery from the coronavirus pandemic by providing good quality, sustainable jobs for communities across England and Wales.
In the run up to the local elections in May, the party has said there has never been a more important moment to elect Greens who will work hard to help their community recover from the pandemic while tackling the climate emergency and reducing inequality.
The Green Party has called for a Green New Deal to transform the UK’s housing to make all homes warmer and more energy efficient, revolutionise our transport and rapidly roll out renewable energy across the country. Hundreds of thousands of low carbon jobs would be created to carry out this work.
“We know that underpinning any economic recovery must be the aim to create a greener job sector which has sustainability at the heart of every process. However, the government is categorically failing to invest sufficiently in the Green sector. It is Green councillors and activists on the ground, working with local communities up and down the country, who are picking up the slack and doing what they can to ensure a green recovery for all.”
Economic recovery from the pandemic should be centred around the creation of Green jobs with a transition away from high carbon polluting industries to new sectors. This would deliver mass expansion in renewable energy sources and technologies, and create millions of good quality, well-paid jobs across the country. Training and skills would be prioritised and investment directed towards communities hardest hit by economic changes over the last few decades. Three important areas of focus are:
• The Greens would invest £2bn each year in programmes like apprenticeships to develop training and skills and help people access new jobs in the transition to a net-zero economy.
• A renewed focus on retrofitting homes and work on our homes, businesses and public buildings in a move away from new builds would lead to the creation of millions of quality, well-paid jobs across the UK.
• A Universal Basic Income would provide an unconditional payment to meet all adult’s basic needs and deliver a secure income to ease job insecurity and financial hardship.
• Local authorities would be given the power to direct newly created training and skills programmes, like apprenticeships, and would be able to decide how related funding is spent.
• The Green Party would create a network of regional mutual banks to provide funding for start-up companies (particularly co-operatives, community interest companies and other non-profit businesses) developing technologies which contribute to decarbonising our economy.
• New technologies would lead to the expansion of the renewable sector, underpinned by the creation of jobs and clean industry. To implement this, the Greens would apply a carbon tax to raise the price of processes that use fossil fuels, incentivising industry to switch to low or zero carbon technology and equipment and encourage consumers to choose low carbon products.
• By developing the infrastructure necessary to allow large corporations and individuals to recycle close to 100% of the items used, we would bring about a circular economy to keep products and materials in use within industry.
• A shift from models of ownership to usership, such as with car-sharing platforms and neighbourhood libraries for tools and equipment, would be encouraged.