Just Transition policies for climate action take centre stage in
the Scottish Parliament today.
This follows key campaigning in Scotland by trade unions and environmental groups.
Just Transition is also the focus in a series of articles in Scottish Left Review, including
one by UNISON Scotland Depute
Convener Stephen Smellie and another by Francis Stuart, STUC
Policy Officer.
Francis writes: “Tackling climate change
while building an industrial base for low-carbon manufacturing will require
government policy, planning, direction and investment. The Scottish
Government’s Just Transition Commission, successfully advocated for by the Just
Transition Partnership, provides an opportunity to address these issues.
"Its
role is to look at how Scotland achieves a carbon-neutral economy while
maximising opportunities in terms of fair work and tackling inequalities.To be
effective, it should be independent of government and should have a commitment
to look beyond the next two years, to climate change targets which run until
2050.
“The Scottish National Investment Bank also
provides an opportunity to leverage in funding for the low-carbon economy,
providing patient capital for sectors and organisations which cannot access
patient, strategic capital. The Scottish Government’s plans for a publicly
owned energy company could also help transform the public policy landscape,
although it will have to be far more ambitious than the Scottish Government’s
current vision of a company focussed on retail supply. A focus on generation –
where the both the money and the decarbonisation opportunities are – will be
crucial if it is to play a role in a just transition to a low carbon economy.”
The debate in the Scottish Parliament sees all parties backing the application
of just transition principles in Scotland. MSPs are debating a Scottish
Government motion and amendments from the Tories, Labour and Greens. Labour’s amendment, from Claudia Beamish MSP, calls
for the Parliament to give “further consideration to the
establishment of a statutory, long-term just transition commission, which
should be well-funded, independent of government and accountable to the
Parliament, building on the work of the present non-statutory commission.”
The
Scottish Government announced the finalised membership
of the Just Transition Commission at the weekend. It starts work later this
month and will report in two years.
Among the new members announced are STUC Deputy General Secretary
Dave Moxham and Richard Hardy, Prospect National Secretary for Scotland, along
with Lang Banks, Director of WWF Scotland - all members of the Just Transition
Partnership (JTP), along with UNISON, Friends of the Earth Scotland (FoES) and other
unions including the CWU, Unite and UCU.
(Separately, UNISON, along with other energy unions, has very recently called on
the UK Government to have talks on Just Transition. UNISON, Unite, GMB and
Prospect released a template
for a just transition following a conference of energy workers.)
The JTP sent a briefing
to MSPs ahead of the debate. (See also the JTP press release and the SLR article by Matthew Crighton, of FoES on the Partnership.)
The briefing says that the concept
of a just transition is central to a successful response to climate change, and
to building popular support for action to cut emissions.
A
just transition must:
●
Put protecting
workers’ livelihoods, creating new jobs, and delivering a fairer Scotland at
the centre of the move to a low-carbon economy
●
Be embedded
across and supported by Government priorities and infrastructure projects
including the Climate Change Plan, the Publicly Owned Energy Company, the
Scottish National Investment Bank, future economic strategies and the work of
the enterprise agencies
●
Involve trade
unions, communities and environmentalists at the heart of the process
●
Be put into
statute under the Climate Change (Emissions Reductions Targets) (Scotland) Bill
Stephen Smellie’s article in Scottish Left Review argues that the transition must be
just to all affected workers, with many in the public sector dealing with the
impacts of climate change.
“The water industry, seafarers and other transport workers face significant challenges. High energy using industries such as manufacturing and construction face rising costs. The public sector workers whose budgets for services are cut to divert money to efforts to ameliorate the effects of climate change on infra-structure.
“Other workers have a significant part to play in the transition and making sure that it is just: the science workers creating alternatives; the education workers training the current energy and future workers with the skills necessary for the future low carbon industries; and the public sector workers in environmental protection, infra-structure and planning, designing better communities that use less carbon.”
Meanwhile, continuing the focus, a free Centre for Climate Justice conference
looking at Just Transition takes place at Glasgow Caledonian University tomorrow,
Wednesday, with Stop Climate Chaos
Scotland (SCCS) chair Tom Ballantine among the speakers.
UNISON is part of SCCS. Do please email your MSPs for a stronger
climate Bill and/or arrange to meet your MSPs. Easy info on how to do both is here.
And watch this space for more developments as the
STUC steps up work around energy and climate change, including considering how
workers’ pensions might help address societal challenges including climate
change.
As Francis Stuart concludes in SLR, “Scotland’s
unions are clear that tackling climate change is a moral, social and economic
imperative and Scotland must play its part in reducing emissions. However,
meeting targets must ensure that workers and communities benefit and
manufacturing is not simply offshored.
“A genuinely just transition, addressing
fundamental questions of ownership, is the only way in which we will move to a
low carbon economy while building a more equal economy and society.”
.
