Low Carbon Jobs in an Interconnected World

Article

This paper focuses on the emerging debate concerning the creation of 'low-carbon' jobs. What perhaps began as rhetoric generated for the purpose of counteracting climate negativity is now developing into an area of study that offers extraordinarily promising benefits.

Not only can a low-carbon technology revolution help achieve climate change goals, it can also create new jobs, boost economic growth and help improve the lives of those currently deprived of access to energy.

Government action on climate change promises economic opportunity. The language of climate change policy has hitherto been largely negative, with wide use of such words as 'limitation', 'constraint' and 'reduction'. However, investing in new technology, stimulating new economic activity around a re-engineering of energy systems and growing new markets - all necessary to avoid climate catastrophe - will stimulate growth and offer new, skilled employment to workers.

This paper - the product of eight separate national studies conducted over recent months by each of the GCN's member institutes - provides a major fillip for climate optimism and positivism.

Related items

  1. Adults standing in a circle and talking to each other about their mental wellbeing. There is a staff member sitting to the left of them in the frame sitting next to a table. The community centre is located in Seaton Deleval in the North East of England.

    What is the left for?: The case for a politics of reciprocism

    Liberal democratic capitalism has failed to give many people good lives, and the future looks less promising than the past. 

  2. Wildfires and climate change | Dave Hawkey from IPPR Scotland speaks to Lewis Goodall on LBC

    Europe’s heatwaves and the wildfires in the Cairngorms are a stark reminder that climate extremes are here.  The Scottish government must act now with a clear plan to prepare for what's coming.

  3. “I feel quite unsettled and unsafe”: Young people, belonging, and the broken promise of childhood

    Young people in England feel less secure, supported and connected than a decade ago. Based on nearly 200 conversations, this blog explores why childhood feels more stressful and less joyful.