UN Report offers further evidence of opportunities to create millions of green jobs: EU must invest much more now in renewables
The Spokespersons of the European Green Party have broadly welcomed a report this week from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) which says that millions of jobs could be created worldwide in the next few decades by investment in alternative energy technologies.
EGP Co-Spokesperson Philippe Lamberts said:" This week's report from UNEP, entitled" Green Jobs;Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World", is extremely important because it gives clear statistical evidence of the potential economic benefits, including the creation of many millions of jobs, of combatting climate change by developing the alternative energy sector . This argument has been a key part of the European Greens' strategy to combat climate change and we have consistently argued that the EU and its member states must act quickly to grasp the opportunities for sustainable economic development and new jobs which are offered by the development of renewable energies. This report is extremely timely because the current global financial crisis is being used by many politicians from traditional parties, including in the European Parliament, as an excuse to water down targets to reduce CO2 emissions or allow opt-outs for certain industrial sectors. This report proves the folly of this argument by showing, for example, that investments in greater energy efficiency in buildings could generate between 2 and 3.5 million jobs in Europe and the United States by 2030. And it is worth pointing out that more energy efficient buildings bring the additional benefit of drastic cuts in the cost of heating and air conditioning."
EGP Co-Spokesperson Ulrike Lunacek continued: "We European Greens will continue to campaign, at local, national and EU level, for much greater investment in truly renewable sources of energy like wind and solar power. One significant area in which we take a different view from the report's authors is that of agrofuels. While the report points out that many of the jobs in the agrofuels industry, particularly in Latin America and Asia, are poorly paid and dangerous and that agrofuels could potentially force many people to leave the land, we would go much further than this and argue that there is growing evidence of the link between agrofuels and the threat of increased starvation and malnutrition. However, other than this caveat, we welcome this report and again urge industry and EU institutions and member states to grasp with a real sense of urgency the great opportunities offered by the transition to a low-carbon economy."
