New low-carbon economy could be the key to new jobs, report

28 January 2009

A new low-carbon economy could create up to 150,000 new jobs, according to a new report published by the Local Government Association.

The report, Creating green jobs: developing local low-carbon economies, urges the government to give councils the power to tackle climate change and create a wealth of jobs in the midst of an eroding economy.

A council-led national home insulation programme to make millions of properties more energy efficient and boost semi-skilled employment is proposed by the LGA.

In addition, plans for a national loans fund to allow residents to invest in renewable forms of energy is outlined as well as the benefits of investing in managing the risks associated with climate change, such as flood defences.

Sir Jeremy Beecham, vice chair of the LGA, said, ‘Creating a low carbon economy will create thousands of new jobs, support small businesses and develop new markets. At a time when we are seeing more and more redundancies, a Green New Deal would boost the economy and help fight fuel poverty. Taking action now to combat climate change makes economic and environmental sense. If we do not take action to cut carbon emissions now, then it will cost out future generations more in the long run.’

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: emissions, energy efficiency

This story was published on Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 at 1:14 pm and is filed under Europe, energy efficiency, policy. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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