STUC Response to the Just Transition Commission Interim Report

February 27th 2020

STUC Response to the Just Transition Commission Interim Report

February 27th 2020

“Today’s report sets out a much-needed challenge to the Scottish Government and industry by calling for an urgent ramping up of the policy, planning, direction and investment needed to deliver a Just Transition, to begin immediately. It is positive to see that in certain areas the Commission is calling for action now even ahead of its final report in 2021.

“The climate emergency is the biggest threat facing society. The Scottish Government has set world leading targets to cut emissions fast. However, targets are only as good as the policy decisions which are made to deliver them. We simply will not succeed if justice for workers and communities is not at the core of our approach.

“The Commission has clearly indicated that the current transition is not just. It has highlighted three decades of failure to create jobs in the renewables industry’s supply chains. The Scottish Government must recognise that the markets have failed to avert climate emergency so ministers must be much more interventionist and willing to take on corporate interests if they are to deliver a truly just transition.”

“Going forward the Commission needs to estimate the scale of investment and funding needed and then say how that can be delivered. It should recognise that the scale and urgency is so great that extending public ownership in the energy system will be needed in order to deliver the public solutions which will be at the core of the just transition.

“Just Transition requires organisation with appropriate business models that enable fair work, particularly the effective voice of workers through unions, that can drive workplace innovation to meet NZC objectives. The Commission needs to recognise this in the recommendations it ultimately makes.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact

Rachel Thomson, Campaigns & Communications Officer, on rthomson@stuc.org.uk or 07974966227

or Dave Moxham, Deputy General Secretary on dmoxham@stuc.org.uk or 07891026870