Over the last two decades, there have been promises of tens of thousands of jobs in renewable energy in Scotland, yet the reality has been nowhere close.
While renewable energy has grown, increasingly we’ve seen multinational companies ripping off people in Scotland. Their turnover is rising rapidly, yet there are few jobs and little benefit to our communities in return.
The alternative is to take back control of our energy system. There is an opportunity to turn our renewable energy resource into tens of thousands of decent jobs if the right policies are put in place.
What do we want?
To end the pattern of broken promises, it is essential that we see greater public control of our renewables. We need to increase national and municipal ownership in the energy system, and we need to see stricter conditions on companies that do benefit from Scotland’s natural resources.
Across the world we see national governments and municipal authorities owning major renewable energy companies from Sweden’s Vattenfall to Munich’s Stadtwerke. Alongside ownership of key ports and harbours for renewable supply chains, their approach is creating jobs and retaining wealth in local communities.
Even in Scotland, Local authorities like Stirling and North Ayrshire Council have shown their ambition to own renewable energy developments to cut bills in social housing, reduce climate emissions, and create decent jobs in their local area.
Power in our economy must rest in public hands if we are to turn the tide on the failure to create jobs in renewable energy in Scotland. Investment and control are vital, from the UK Government, the Scottish Government, and our local authorities.
Green Jobs
This report, commissioned by the STUC and researched and written by Transition Economics, sets out how Scotland can maximise green job creation, as well as Fair Work and effective worker voice in these jobs. The report estimates - with the right policies and funding in place - Scotland could see job creation in the region of 156,000 - 367,000 jobs. However, it is also possible for Scotland to decarbonise without significant domestic job creation - and that those jobs created could be primarily precarious and under-paid. For example, the same very ambitious roll-out of renewable energy could create up to 70,000 Scottish jobs - or less than 9,000. The difference depends on the policies put in place by government.
To download the Green Jobs report, click here.
STUC Public Power League
‘Public Power League’ shows the progress made by local authorities across Scotland to develop their own energy projects. The league tables, which show Aberdeenshire topping the capacity chart with 226 megawatts of energy, aim to show the progress made by local authorities in creating local municipal energy projects.
The data, which further shows Stirling Council leading on the number of installations at 2,420, builds a picture of Scotland’s energy network as progress is made towards delivering a just transition to net-zero by 2045.
Municipal energy can increase revenues for local authorities or be targeted to reduce energy bills and tackle fuel poverty. At the same time, public control can support a Community Wealth Building approach, ensuring new energy projects prioritise local economies and supply chains with significant multiplier effects for jobs and greater accountability in the energy system.
The STUC, Scotland’s largest trade union body, is calling on all councils to redouble their efforts to capture the opportunity of public energy in their area. The move comes as intensified campaigning begins from the union to highlight private companies lining their pockets from people’s energy bills soaring. Commenting, STUC General Secretary Roz Foyer, stated:
“In 2022, we’ve seen Aberdeenshire and Stirling Councils leading the charge with their energy projects including heat pumps, solar PV and onshore wind. These projects have helped local authorities to tackle fuel poverty in their areas and retain vital income in their communities.
“More public energy is essential as people in Scotland watch their energy bills soar while private companies make billions from our natural resources. By holding power in our hands, we can prioritise lower bills and investment into communities, decent jobs, and meeting our climate targets.
“The People/Public Power League shows which local authorities are grasping this mantle. Every councillor in Scotland should be redoubling their efforts towards greater local authority ownership of energy and heat projects for the good of people in their area.”
