Energy – “ Our jobs, our professions, our futures ”

Top of the agenda at UNISON’s energy service group conference in Liverpool today (Monday) was the importance of workers in delivering the Paris Agreement goal.
“We fully support the commitment to achieve net zero in greenhouse emissions by 2050,” said Lindsay McNaught from British Gas branch. “But we need to ensure workers are not left stranded as they were when the mines closed in the 1980s.”
Last month, the government’s Committee on Climate Change set out how the UK hopes to achieve the goal of zero emissions within an expected economic cost.
Worryingly, but unsurprisingly, the report states that the government’s current policy is inadequate and that the UK is currently falling short in 15 out of 18 categories required to achieve zero emissions. It states that: “challenges across all sectors must be tackled vigorously, and in tandem, beginning immediately.”
Meeting these challenges will not be easy. Tracey Wainwright, EDF sector, said: “We live in a democracy and achieving decarbonisation will come at a price. It will require hard choices and bills may go up.
“We need to be able to persuade people of the benefits of decarbonisation and we will only do this if we are able to take energy members with us. Their support is critical. These are our jobs, our profession and our future.”
The energy conference passed a motion stating that UNISON workers should have a significant say in how the energy industry achieves decarbonisation.
UNISON is ke...

Source: UNISON Health care news - June 17, 2019 Category: UK Health Authors: Martin Cullen Tags: Article 2019 Energy Conference Source Type: news