| Government in green collar job boost |
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| Written by Adrie van der Luijt | |
| Thursday, 08 May 2008 | |
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Environmental industries may employ a million UK workers within the next two decades.
Minister for Europe Jim Murphy MP and his French counterpart Jean-Pierre Jouyet will host a roundtable discussion on Towards a Green Collar Europe - jobs and growth in a low carbon economy on Thursday 8 May. Senior participants from business, civil society and trade unions will consider how Europe can boost employment and prosperity in the 21st Century by showing leadership on climate change. Issues for debate will include reform of the EU budget to deliver jobs and growth and designing a successor to the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth. Competitive advantage Murphy said that countries that take early action in developing green technology will have a competitive advantage as this boom industry grows in the future. The Government wants to make sure the UK is ahead of the pack. “In the future we want an economy offering a mix of good blue collar jobs, good white collar jobs and good green collar jobs. Our aim is to have over a million UK workers in environmental industries within the next two decades,” Murphy added. He said that the economic case for an urgent shift to low carbon was compelling. The Stern Review claimed that climate change will be more devastating than both of the World Wars and the Great Depression, warning that ignoring it could reduce global GDP by as much as 20 per cent. By contrast, Stern estimated that if we act decisively now the benefits would be of the order of $2.5 trillion. New jobs for workers with the right skills A panel of experts commissioned by Gordon Brown has estimated that from water treatment to global carbon markets the UK' s environmental industries are already worth more than £25 billion and that they already employ some 400,000 people. It is also about creating new jobs in the UK for workers with the right skills. Renewable energy programmes in Germany and Spain are just ten years old but have already created hundreds of thousands of jobs. Germany is known for car giants like BMW, Mercedes and VW, but by 2020 it will have more jobs in the field of environmental technologies than in its entire car industry. Murphy claimed that a 20 per cent increase in energy efficiency would create around a million jobs across Europe. “I want as many as possible of those jobs to be created in the UK,” he concluded. Related articles
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