Now discussing Jobs and Skills with @tessakhan.bsky.social, Richard Hardy of TU Prospect, Kenny MacInnis, Forth Valley College & Claire Mack of Scottish Renewables...

The only alternative is ambitious planning & investment in clean energy jobs, plus robust transition support for oil & gas workers. There are finally signs that change might be on its way, but there is no margin for error and governments have to get this right urgently. END

The SAC is right to raise the dire situation currently faced by many energy workers, but concluding we should slow the transition down makes a failed transition seem inevitable when it is not. We know the status quo (& more o&g licensing) will not meaningfully stem the decline in jobs. /8

...not just of government promises, but also of industry's. After all, O&G companies have made record profits in recent years while jobs and job quality have declined & have blamed high taxes for job losses even while they pay their shareholders millions. /7 www.heraldscotland.com/politics/vie...

Workers & communities, esp in the north-east, are understandably cynical. People have heard promises of green jobs for years that haven't materialised & have had little support as jobs supported by oil & gas have gone into freefall. There is every reason to be sceptical.../6

But if govts get that right then the path to scaling up CE jobs at a pace that offsets the ongoing decline of O&G jobs in Scotland is wide open, as academics have concluded. It is not too late but it requires more of this kind of ambitious planning, backed by investment, by both governments.
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...the UK govt publishes its Plan for the Future of the North Sea. The SAC calls for proper planning, but that's exactly what seems to be emerging. We still need more investment at scale to back this up & a similarly robust plan to redeploy workers & future proof businesses in the O&G supply chain/4

...like GMB, Unite & RMT is indicative of how much of a break with the past it represents. It also includes a £20 mill commitment with Scottish govt to an oil & gas transition training fund; comes after Scot gov has just invested £8.5 mill in clean energy supply chains; and is just before.../3

In short, the SAC report doesn't consider the UK gov's just-published Clean Energy Jobs Plan, which is not only the most comprehensive plan yet for creating clean jobs at scale, inc. 40k direct jobs in Scotland--it's the ONLY plan we've ever had. The fact that it's been welcomed by trade unions.../2

With the right policies and commitment to act, we could see: thriving supply chains & thousands of good, secure jobs in domestic wind manufacturing; oil & gas workers properly supported to move into these jobs; and renewable energy that makes Scottish communities wealthier.
END

The UK has burned most of its gas & most of the oil is exported. By 2050 the UK will be almost completely reliant on gas imports, even if new fields & licences go ahead. So the risks and opportunities for the next Scottish Government are huge.
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The next Scot Government has power to change this. But not if the narrow interests of oil & gas companies are allowed to dominate debates. We know new drilling won’t lower bills or protect workers in the long term, nor will it shore up our energy security.
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Right now Scottish communities are seeing renewable infrastructure being built but not always seeing economic benefit. The North Sea is in irrevocable decline, yet Scotland's oil & gas workers are still waiting for a plan for their future. This is largely a failure of successive govts policies /2

As the Tories & Reform increasingly look backwards for answers, the Climate Jobs coalition represents a genuinely hopeful & forward-looking politics. Plenty of work still to do but this is the kind of political realignment that feels like a potential turning point in energy policy & politics. END

attended by GMB, Prospect, energy cos, MPs & Scottish MSPs, where the opportunity for significant job creation in the clean energy supply chain was discussed, incl. at a scale that ensures a fair transition away from North Sea oil & gas. More from us on that here: www.upliftuk.org/post/clean-e...
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...the coalition behind the shift away from fossil fuels will expand to include the labour movement, the climate movement & the majority of the UK public who support renewables over FF on energy security & affordability grounds. We also cohosted a roundtable in Liverpool on O&G transition...
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...and trailed measures that the UK gov will introduce to ensure clean energy jobs are good jobs (eg a Fair Work Charter). The (small 'p') political shift this represents is significant. Unions are rightly concerned with the interests of their members--as that membership grows in clean energy...
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GMB chief Gary Smith who has, shall we say, expressed past scepticism re climate policy, started by recognising that working class communities are impacted first by the climate crisis. Ed Miliband responded by stating that TU voices aren't an 'optional extra' in his clean energy jobs plan...
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