Writing for the Sunday Mirror, the Energy Secretary said that changing course on the target to slash emissions by 2050 would be bad for the country’s finances
Ed Miliband has hit back against critics who claim Net Zero targets are bad for the economy.
Writing for the Sunday Mirror, the Energy Secretary said that changing course on the target to slash emissions by 2050 would be bad for the country’s finances.
And he said it would be a “betrayal of the British people” because of the skilled, high paid jobs the shift to clean energy would create.
“Bad for our economy, bad for growth and bad for the climate – leaving a terrible legacy for our children and grandchildren,” he wote.
“The net zero economy is thriving. Recent figures from the CBI show the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole last year – with employment in the sector up by over 10%.
“As Rain Newton Smith, CEO of the CBI has said: “now is not the time to step back from the opportunities of the green economy.”
It comes after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch pulled her party’s support for the net zero goal – which was set by a Conservative Government.
She claimed the target could not be reached “without a serious drop in our living standards or by bankrupting us.”
But Mr Miliband said: “We have seen almost £35 billion in clean energy investment announced into the UK since July.
“And with the world investing $2 trillion a year in clean energy, embracing this the revolution in renewables and nuclear offers huge export opportunities for our country.
“We must grab those opportunities with both hands, working in partnership with business to win the global race for the industries of the future.”
‘Net Zero is about skilled jobs with higher wages that can power growth across the economy.’
By ED MILIBAND, Energy Secretary
This Thursday in Derby, I saw first-hand that net zero is the economic opportunity of the 21st century.
I was at the opening of Vaillant’s new cylinder factory – a £40 million plant that will create 200 skilled jobs in heat pump manufacturing.
There was huge excitement among the workers about the future they are building.
This is what the clean energy revolution is all about: delivering good jobs, energy security and economic growth for today, as we act on the climate crisis to protect current and future generations.
These are the issues that matter to Sunday Mirror readers and the British people and they are crucial to this government’s Plan for Change.
And as I saw at Vaillant, this isn’t about some theoretical future opportunity but real jobs being created, right now, in communities up and down the country.
Over many decades, we have seen how deindustrialisation and the offshoring of manufacturing has sucked the wealth out of our industrial communities.
The clean energy revolution is changing that at speed – reindustrialising to create new opportunities for our technicians, engineers, sparkies, mechanics, welders and apprentices.
This is about skilled jobs with higher wages that can power growth across the economy.
And from building wind turbines in Hull and the Scottish Highlands to the 4,000 jobs created from growing a carbon capture industry in the North-West and Teesside, we are already seeing investment in our proud industrial heartlands.
Changing course on net zero would therefore be a betrayal of the British people – bad for our economy, bad for growth and bad for the climate – leaving a terrible legacy for our children and grandchildren.
The net zero economy is thriving. Recent figures from the CBI show the net zero economy grew three times faster than the economy as a whole last year – with employment in the sector up by over 10%.
As Rain Newton Smith, CEO of the CBI has said: “now is not the time to step back from the opportunities of the green economy.”
We have seen almost £35 billion in clean energy investment announced into the UK since July.
And with the world investing $2 trillion a year in clean energy, embracing this the revolution in renewables and nuclear offers huge export opportunities for our country.
We must grab those opportunities with both hands, working in partnership with business to win the global race for the industries of the future.
That is why making Britain a clean energy superpower is a key part of the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change.
Our mission is about shielding our country from exposure to the rollercoaster of fossil fuel markets in the grip of dictators like Putin, while creating jobs and driving growth around the country – and we are wasting no time in delivering it.
In less than 9 months in office, we have set up Great British Energy, a new publicly owned energy company, to ensure that clean energy generates the jobs and supply chains Britain needs as well as the power.
It will work hand in hand with our National Wealth Fund, which has already announced investment in clean energy projects from EV charging to upgrading homes.
READ MORE: Join our Mirror politics WhatsApp group to get the latest updates from Westminster
Our Clean Industry Bonus will reward clean energy developers who invest in our most deprived communities. Revitalising towns and cities by developing the ports, blade manufacturing and cable factories that can support the rollout of offshore wind.
This is just the start, as we put clean energy at the heart of our upcoming industrial strategy that we will publish later this year.
We are seizing the opportunities of this transition for energy security, lower bills, and good jobs, while protecting our children and grandchildren from climate disaster.
That is what the government’s clean energy mission is all about – making the British people better off now and for generations to come.
