The coronavirus pandemic has made us ever more aware of our environmental impacts the world over. We will all remember the stark images of once smog hidden skylines suddenly revealed for the first time in parts of the world. Seeing this has only spurred on our commitment and drive to lead the world in responding to climate change. Later this year we’ll have the opportunity to welcome representatives from every corner of the globe to COP26. After which, I’m hopeful we will see the next US President recommit to the Paris Climate Agreement and help us lead the world into the green industrial revolution. It’s already underway in the UK and in just a decade we’ve increased our renewable energy generation fivefold and by 2024 we will be totally coal-free
As we move forward, we will need a workforce with the right skills to build up and maintain our green economy. Last week, my colleague Kwasi Kwarteng, Minister for Energy, and I, launched the Governments new ‘Green Jobs Taskforce’ which will be working with education providers, businesses, and employees to develop new highly-skilled green jobs to help us build back greener and achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
Kwasi and I will co-chair the group, focusing on both the immediate and longer-term challenges in delivering skilled green workers for the UK. There are some short-term skills gaps we need to fill to enable us to reach our goals, such as retrofitting homes, making them more energy-efficient and cheaper. This has already been backed by £3 billion of funding and has the potential to support 140,000 jobs. Longer-term we’ll look at how we can support the transition from jobs in high carbon industry to greener sectors, and support people from all walks of life to train or retrain to enable them to capitalise on this growing industry.
Work is ongoing in every department to reduce our emissions and protect our environment – that is not to say we always get it right. One example, which has caused us all concern is the ‘planning for the future’ white paper, particularly the algorithm; used to calculate housing numbers. In response to the consultation, MPs, myself included, councils, and communities expressed serious concern. In our area particularly we’re faced with a unique challenge with our developable land sandwiched into a narrow strip between Chichester Harbour and the South Downs National Park. Simply put the proposals don’t work for our area and given the strength of local response from all of us, I remain optimistic and hopeful that the algorithm will be reviewed and amended by my colleagues in Government.