The 10-point plan sets out a roadmap for how the UK can bounce back from the COVID-19 crisis while generating much needed jobs and decarbonising our energy supply.
Praising the plan’s publications, Mr Whitehead said, “This is a superb document. It gets to the heart of all the things that we need to do, not just in terms of our green recovery but how we put that in the context of our longer term challenges of securing a low carbon economy.”
The green recovery should be about using the investment that we’ll be needing to bring about the infrastructure changes that will lead us to net zero. We need to make sure that we use this ‘vehicle of recovery’ to get us further down that path.”
Ten point plan
Prospect’s 10-point plan for a Green Recovery plan includes:
- Publish a comprehensive net zero roadmap
- Accelerate deployment of low-carbon infrastructure
- Embed a whole-systems approach
- Develop a fair funding formula
- A strategy for energy conservation
- Maximise the benefits for UK PLC
- Net zero workforce plan
- Ramp up research and development
- Just transition
- A net zero energy commission
View the full plan and download the PDF pamphlet.
In her introductory remarks, Sue Ferns, said: “This should be part of everyone’s agenda and we’re very keen that as a trade union, we debate this, understand it and exchange views. We want an informed debate across the union and promote discussion outside Prospect too.”
She added that there would be further work in the months to come, such as in skills, and Prospect was also considering the scope for a job transition programme for the energy sector.
Prospect rep Ajai Ahluwalia, said that he was grateful as a Prospect member to have had the opportunity to share some of his expertise and experiences into the green recovery plan.
“As an electrical engineer working in renewables for the last 10 years, this is a topic that I feel very passionately about.
“We face a significant challenge before us and we can’t afford to hang around… We need to be able to implement and deploy these new technologies as quickly as possible.”
Another Prospect rep who helped to draw up the plan was, David Watson, who also spoke on the panel.
He said that it was important to focus on the urgency and the scale of the climate problem, which underlined the importance of having this roadmap for energy to get us to net zero.
Also speaking on the panel was Prospect energy researcher, Nick Kardahji, whose presentation made the case for the prominent role that would be required for nuclear energy if the UK was to meet its emissions targets.