Low carbon jobs offer regions like the North East the opportunity to turn around decades of industrial decline, a new report says.
The report by the Onward think tank highlights Nissan’s investment into electric vehicles and the redevelopment of the Teesworks site on Teesside as examples of how low-carbon technologies can help the Government’s levelling up agenda. But the report also warns that the UK has around five years to secure investment in green industries to replace traditional sectors in places like the North East or risk missing out on the green industries of the future to competitors in the EU, the USA, and Asia.
The report says the North and Midlands “are uniquely exposed to the challenges and the opportunities from the Net Zero transition”, adding: “Risks abound, from car manufacturers in the West Midlands, to steel producers in Scunthorpe and South Wales, and high-carbon industries in Teesside and Humberside.
Read more: green jobs more than double in North East
“But there are huge opportunities too, already seen in Nissan’s investment in electric vehicles in Sunderland, Siemens’ wind turbine factory in Humberside and the ongoing redevelopment of the huge Teesworks site under the leadership of Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen.”
Onward said it expected most European electric vehicle and battery factories would be built by 2030, ready for the likely peak in demand, but with plants taking around five years to build, investment decisions need to be made in the next two years. Other European governments are already offering cash incentives for battery manufacturers to build plants in their countries while promised Government investment for the Britishvolt electric vehicle battery plant near Blyth, Northumberland, has yet to materialise.
Along with cash incentives, the Onward report recommended exempting green manufacturing firms from business rates, reducing electricity bills for heavy industry and introducing “local content” targets for green technologies.
A spokesperson for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “The Government is supporting green manufacturing industries by investing and leveraging billions across the renewables supply chain, backing Britain’s automotive sector through new gigafactories and increasing relief for energy intensive industries’ electricity costs to ensure sectors such as steel remain competitive.”
Last week a separate report claimed that the North East had seen the biggest increase in green jobs in the UK over the last 12 months but warned that the sector was still dominated by London and the South East.
The second PwC’s Green Jobs Barometer showed the North East recording a big rise in green jobs over the last 12 months, with employment figures going from 4,227 to 7,594. But it said that London and the South East could claim almost a third (32.7%) of all new green jobs, raising fears that the economic benefits of net zero transition may not be fairly spread around the country.
READ NEXT:
