Climate groups are calling for £1.9 billion a year to support offshore oil and gas workers and communities across the UK through the transition to renewable energy.
More than 65 organizations have written to Prime Minister Rachel Reeves urging her to ring-fence funding until 2030 to support the transition to clean energy jobs, following a move backed by major unions.
They want the government to prioritize public investment in domestic renewable energy manufacturing and technology and fund a UK-wide industrial strategy that expands publicly owned energy production.
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Climate groups including Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, Extinction Rebellion, Platform, Uplift and Oil Change International are calling for governments to support public and local governments. It is calling for £1.1 billion a year to be spent to develop permanent local jobs in socially owned wind manufacturing.
They also want a further £440m a year for port upgrades to ease bottlenecks in the green energy supply chain, including giving the government a stake as vital national infrastructure.
And there should be £355 million a year to develop a dedicated training fund for overseas oil and gas workers and match it with the industry through a training levy on employers to help retrain them.
The letter was signed by Unite, the largest union representing offshore oil and gas workers, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers’ Union (RMT), the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and the Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC). was supported by ) and the Trades Union Councils of Moray and Aberdeen.
The new government has said it wants to make the UK a clean energy superpower as part of its mission to stimulate growth and jobs.
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It has set a target of achieving clean electricity by 2030, is establishing a publicly owned clean energy company, GB Energy, and has signaled that no new oil and gas licenses will be issued.
But concerns have been raised about job losses in the fossil fuel sector and how people working in polluting industries will be fairly supported to find new jobs in the clean energy sector.
A letter to the Prime Minister ahead of the autumn budget warns that growth in offshore wind will not deliver sufficient job growth because manufacturing work takes place overseas and the training regime is not fit for purpose.
And it accuses successive governments of leaving the energy transition to markets and industry bosses, prioritizing shareholder interests over “affordable energy, adequate public investment and job creation.”
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“Continuing to close Grangemouth Refinery and Port Talbot Steelworks without a plan to transition workers into safe green energy or green steel jobs is a damning indictment of this failed approach.”
The letter was presented to the Treasury Department at a rally on Wednesday.
Greenpeace campaigner Mel Evans said: “For too long, industry bosses have reaped record profits while oil and gas workers have borne the brunt of the decline in North Sea oil and gas.
“Overseas workers risked life and limb and suffered long periods of separation from their families to keep this country moving. “Now is the time for the government to repay their sacrifice with an industrial strategy that puts worker justice at the heart.”
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Joe Rollin, senior organizer at Unite the Union, said: “Creating sustainable green jobs must be at the heart of the UK’s renewable energy strategy.
“We cannot allow North Sea workers to face a cliff edge and no skilled green jobs while the UK becomes more dependent on fossil fuel imports.
“Today, unions, workers and climate groups are united behind a transition plan for oil and gas workers and the urgent need for public funding to support it. “Now the Prime Minister needs to listen.”
A government spokesperson said: “The oil and gas industry will play a vital role for decades to come and we will work with the sector to ensure a fair, orderly and prosperous transition.
“Much of this transferable expertise in marine energy, such as oil and gas, will be critical to the transition to net zero. Through the Clean Energy Jobs Secretariat, we will work with trade unions, experts and industry to support and provide skills to UK workers. “What is essential for future jobs”
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Emily Beament is a PA environment correspondent.
