Far, far away….
One of the problems with all the claims about new “green” jobs from the shiny new “net zero” economy our politicians promise us (or threaten us with, depending on your point of view) is that the massive expansion of “renewables”, in particular wind farms, has produced so few jobs at the cost of such massive damage to our wild places. A side effect of making energy expensive and unreliable is that much of the UK’s capacity to make things has been exported to other countries with lower environmental standards than the UK now enjoys, so the claimed reduction in greenhouse gases as a result of going down this route is dubious, to say the least, since often the things we need are now produced in countries that rely on coal-fired plants to produce their electricity, and then the products have to be transported long distances back to the UK. The sense of that escapes me. It escapes others too.
Broken promises and offshored jobs
This is the title to a reporti prepared in 2019 by the Scottish TUC, on employment in the low-carbon and renewable energy (LCRE) economy. Having first made the necessary genuflection towards the supposed need for an LCRE economy (“the STUC is absolutely committed to building a low-carbon economy and meeting climate change targets”), the STUC then goes on to produce damning information regarding the difference between the Scottish Government’s repeated promises of employment in this area against the reality:
However, we are criticising the failure of industrial policy to ensure that workers, businesses and Government in Scotland benefit from Scotland’s natural resources. Without a domestic industrial base for the LCRE economy, not only will workers in Scotland miss out, but there are serious implications in terms of tax, transparency, economic democracy and meeting climate targets.
The report refers to numerous promises made by the Scottish Government over the years:
Harnessing Scotland’s Marine Energy Potential (2004) – 7,000 direct jobs in the marine industry by 2020.
Renewables Gap Chain Analysis (2004) – 17,000-35,000 jobs by 2020.
Low Carbon Economic Strategy (2010) – annual growth of 4% a year to 130,000 jobs by 2020 (and 5% of the overall workforce). Of the 60,000 new jobs to be created between 2010-2020, 26,000 in renewables; 26,000 in low-carbon tech; and 8,000 in environmental management.
2020 Routemap for Renewable Energy in Scotland (2011) – 40,000 jobs in renewables by 2020.
Scotland’s Energy Strategy (2017) – 4,000 jobs per annum in energy efficiency programmes.
The report looks at the information made available to that point by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The extraordinary fact was that over the time-frame covered by the STUC report, employment in the LCRE economy was falling, and the numbers were nowhere near the levels suggested by the various plans, reports and promises over the years:
While there are issues with the quality of the estimates, the latest figures released in January 2019 estimate 21,400 direct full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs in the LCRE economy in 2017. This is a fall from 23,900 the previous year. The ONS estimate a further 25,000 indirect jobs in 2017, taking the total number of direct and indirect jobs in Scotland to 46,400. This was a fall from 50,500 in 2016, but slightly higher than 45,800 in 2015.
The reasons for this were obvious. The lack of a domestic supply chain and manufacturing base means that imports exceed exports in these areas, and what is needed is being made abroad rather than in the UK, at the expense of British jobs. And the trade balance in this regard was widening. Lots of examples were given in the STUC report, such as:
Moray East Windfarm
100 turbines off the coast of Caithness are being built by a consortium involving Portugal’s main energy firm EDPR, French utility Engie and Diamond Generating Europe, a subsidiary of Japanese firm Mitsubishi Corporation. The blades are being built by Danish company, MHI Vestas Offshore Wind – a joint venture between Vestas Wind Systems and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. MHI Vestas have a plant in the Isle of Wight that employs 300 people. Under the previous ownership of Vestas the Isle of Wight plant was closed in 2009, leading to the loss [of] 425 jobs (and a high profile 18 day blockade by workers and activists). The wind turbine jackets are being handled by a ‘first tier’ Belgian procurement contractor called Deme. Deme awarded the contract for 45 jackets to Lamprell – a company in the United Arab Emirates. Lamprell made a 98m dollar loss on its contract for 60 jackets for Scottish Power Renewables, developer of the East Anglia One wind array, suggesting it does not have a great track record in wind turbine jackets.
Numerous other similar examples were given:
Kinkardineshire Offshore Wind Limited – a Spanish joint venture; Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited – a joint venture involving Danes and the European subsidiary of a Chinese company with, allegedly, migrant workers being paid less than the minimum wage, with special concessions granted by the Home Office to allow the employment of Russian and Indonesian workers; Afton Windfarm, with health & safety issues alleged by STUC, owned (at the time of the report, after various changes of ownership) by the European subsidiary of a Chinese company, the turbines having been manufactured in Spain; issues with decommissioning of oil rigs, being transported by Chinese ships to Bangladesh for the purpose.
The STUC’s conclusion was clear:
The examples above illustrate that [there is] a clear over-reliance on overseas financial interests in the LCRE economy. They also illustrate that where low carbon jobs have been created, too often these have been poor quality and non-unionised. This chimes with academic studies showing that green jobs are particularly insecure and prone to the volatility of the market.
The whole report is worth reading for a summary of much that is wrong in this area. The conclusions are worth quoting:
Past predictions of employment in the LCRE economy have not translated into the jobs boom promised. The LCRE economy is characterised by overseas financial interests, a limited industrial base and precarious work. This is a failure of industrial policy that means workers, businesses and Government in Scotland do not benefit from Scotland’s natural resources. It has serious implications not only in in terms of jobs but also in terms of tax revenues, transparency, and economic democracy.
On 17th April 2019, the GMB Union responded to the STUC report, with comments that are still available on that union’s websiteii:
The report reinforces what we have consistently argued about the reality of renewables employment and the challenges posed by the transition to a low carbon economy. Ultimately, it shows what happens when politicians preach and don’t plan.
BiFab is the case in point. Despite all the talk of a green jobs revolution, the fabrication yards in Burntisland and Methil remain empty
The manufacture of 100 turbine jackets and five floating platforms for the Moray East and Kincardine projects will not take place in Fife but in Belgium, the North East of England [hoorah!], Spain and the United Arab Emirates; the result of our industry being controlled by European state subsided energy firms, Far East finance and Middle East sovereign wealth, and their supply chain partners of preference.
This is what long-term political failure looks like and the price is paid in the loss of thousands of jobs and billions of pounds of prosperity to the Scottish economy, starving hope from working class communities in regions of economic deprivation like Fife.
Scotland’s EV charging structure
More than two years later, and one might have expected UK politicians (and especially those in Scotland who seem to be leading the charge to export jobs) to have learned some lessons from all this. Surely, when it comes to the massive task of installing the charging structure for electric vehicles, the Scottish government would have granted the contract to a Scottish company, or at least to one based in the UK? Not a bit of it. On 4th March 2021 the Scottish Government’s websiteiii proudly announced that SWARCO eVolt was taking over the contract “as the back office operator which enables people to access over 1600 publicly available charge points across Scotland.” Amidst the PR hype, they overlooked to mention that this is an Austrian company. And hype it certainly was:
Following a smooth transition, the priority is to continue to improve ChargePlace Scotland’s reputation for reliability and accessibility for electric vehicle drivers across the country. The new contract will bring new jobs to Scotland, improved customer service and better performance information for users and owners and hosts.
It’s quite an irony, then, that the new arrangements seem to have caused chaos, with the Courier reportingiv
Massive problems at a Dundee service centre have wreaked havoc on Scotland’s £45m electric vehicle (EV) charging network.
Oh well, never mind, the report also tells us that
The Austrian-based multinational has already supplied and installed much of Scotland’s charging point infrastructure. The move brought [drum-roll….] 18 high-value jobs into the city.
Two years later
Surely the situation must have improved by 2021? Not a bit of it, as Magnus Linklater, writing in the Timesv, makes clear.
On jobs, for instance, what is the prediction? Once we were told by the SNP there would be 130,000 green jobs by 2020. In fact, as Sir Keir Starmer inconveniently pointed out on his recent trip to Scotland, there are fewer direct jobs in the industry now than in 2014, with less than a fifth of the projected total delivered. Once a wind farm is created it is not a big employer. Even the construction period has limited potential. There is no major UK-based manufacturer of wind turbines, and much of the work is farmed out to cheaper plants in southeast Asia. Most of the big offshore projects are foreign-owned, such as the giant Neart na Gaoithe site off the Fife coast, owned and run by EDF Renewables, a wholly owned subsidiary of a Paris-based group.
It is idle to pretend that jobs lost in the North Sea oil and gas industry will soon be made up by employment in renewables.
What exactly did Sir Keir have to say on the subject during his visit to Scotland? There are numerous reports, but this one from Daily Businessvi is as good as any:
Labour leader Keir Starmer says Britain is failing to build a green economy with more than 75,000 job losses in the sector in the last five years.
Sir Keir accuses the UK government of “broken promises” and the Scottish government of “going backwards”.
During a visit to Scotland he said the Scottish National Party, has broken its pledge to create 130,000 green jobs by 2020.
Figures show progress on green jobs going backwards in Scotland, with fewer direct jobs today than in 2014, making up just a fifth of the green jobs promised by the SNP, he said.
The figures show a loss of 33,800 direct jobs and a further 41,400 jobs in the supply chain for low carbon and renewable sectors between 2014 and 2019. This includes thousands of jobs lost in solar power, onshore wind, renewable electricity and bioenergy, and a huge fall in the number of jobs in the energy efficiency sector.
Slowly the Penny Begins to Drop
On 4th September 2021, an article appeared in the Guardian’s sister paper, the Observer, with the title “Gone with the wind: why UK firms could miss out on the offshore boom”vii
I was unaware of the industry pledge, apparently given in return for taxpayer funding, which does at least help (if honoured), but patently it doesn’t go anywhere near far enough:
“A crucial industry commitment, made in exchange for government subsidy, is the pledge to use UK-made components for at least 60% of every windfarm. While this would be an improvement on the existing trend, which has seen fewer than half of offshore windfarms built using UK parts, some say more needs to be done to build a homegrown supply chain and avoid being left behind in the global renewables race.”
The GMB again has its finger on the pulse, and is well aware of the realities in this area that seem to evade the politicians, green dreamers and environmental campaigners:
The industry is dominated by European energy giants. These big developers, which invest in building the windfarms and reap subsidy payments in return, include Denmark’s Ørsted, Norwegian state energy giant Equinor, and Scottish Power, which is a division of Spanish renewables giant Iberdrola. SSE is one of the few companies with turbines spinning in British waters to have a London Stock Exchange listing.
The companies that make up the supply chain – the makers of blades, foundations and high-voltage cables – are often foreign. In addition to Denmark’s Vestas, UK-based blade manufacturers include Germany’s Siemens and US conglomerate GE.
The GMB trade union has warned that the UK risks squandering a major economic benefit by allowing many of the components of its offshore wind boom to be manufactured in the factories and steel mills of Asia.
The labour required to transform steel into the 8,000 wind turbine foundations needed to meet the UK’s climate targets could create 30,000 jobs for the next 30 years, according to the trade union. It would require 20 million tonnes of steel which, if made in the UK, could itself could support another 8,000 jobs.
“As things stand these steel fabrication jobs are destined to be in Asia, with the only role for UK workers being to pay for them,” says Gary Smith, the GMB’s general secretary. “This is both unnecessary and politically unacceptable.” He adds that steel supply chain companies are “acutely aware of how far the UK lags way behind” other countries in developing the technology and investment the industry needs.
And yet campaigners continue to oppose the proposed Cumbrian coking coal mine, with a concerted attempt being made at this week’s public inquiry by those self-same politicians, green dreamers and environmental campaigners to make sure that not only will 500 coal mining jobs, in an area of deprivation and high unemployment, not be permitted under any circumstances if they have their way, but the related steel-making jobs will all be exported in a lose-lose situation.
The latest debacle
And still we in the UK seem to be incapable of making “green” jobs, or even retaining those we already have, albeit they seemed to exist only with taxpayer subsidies. Today the BBC tells usviii “Campbeltown wind turbine factory closes permanently“.
So, what’s the story here? The turbine factory in Cambeltown on the Kintyre peninsula is the oldest such factory in the UK, but it has a chequered history. The BBC report tells us that it went into administration in 2011, was rescued, then sold to a South Korean company (CS Wind) in 2016. But in 2019 the majority of the staff were made redundant, and now the remainder are following, as the administrators blame “deteriorating market conditions” . As BBC journalist Douglas Fraser observes, however, “market conditions for wind power have never looked better.”
I’ll give the last words on this debacle to Pat Rafferty, Scottish Secretary of the Unite union, who said:
[T]he Scottish government sat back and watched from the sideline as the firm went bust.
“It’s high time they accept that on their watch, for over a decade now, there has been minimal green and low-carbon manufacturing jobs directly created in Scotland,” he said.
Stop press
I’ve just found some of the green jobs. They’re lurking in another BBC online reportix:
A Glasgow company has been fined £150,000 for making more than half a million nuisance marketing calls.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) found that DialADeal Scotland Ltd (DDSL) had made the unsolicited calls between August 2019 and March 2020.
They were about non-existent Green Deal energy saving schemes, including boiler and window replacement, loft insulation and home improvement grants.
…”Calls about Green Deal schemes can be a real problem as people often believe they are legitimate but, thanks to the complaints made by the public, we’ve been able to take action.”
Conclusion
Once more, I’ll let Pat Rafferty of the Unite Union in Scotland tell it as it is:
“There is no jobs revolution – it’s a myth.”
i https://www.gmb.org.uk/sites/default/files/Broken%20promises%20and%20offshored%20jobs%20report.pdf
ii https://www.gmb.org.uk/news/gmb-scotland-responds-renewable-energy-jobs-report
iii https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/swarco-evolt-to-operate-chargeplace-scotland/
iv https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/business-environment/transport/2486779/chargeplace-scotland-why-the-worlds-largest-electric-vehicle-switchover-went-wrong-and-how-a-dundee-team-are-trying-to-fix-it/
v https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/hot-air-will-not-make-case-for-onshore-wind-q35k5vsmp
vi https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2021/08/75000-green-jobs-lost-due-to-failed-policies-says-starmer/
vii https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/sep/04/gone-with-the-wind-why-uk-firms-could-miss-out-on-the-offshore-boom
viii https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58488135
ix https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-58455022
Climate Scepticism 
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-plans-to-make-uk-world-leader-in-green-energy
We’ll see how that plan turns out, but whatever happens it is likely to make projects more expensive. The National Procurement Policy now states that such things as jobs are to be considered as part of tenders, as opposed to simply taking the lowest price (subject to minimum standards etc).
Of course, new/expanded factories appear to rely on subsidies for construction (or companies just play different jurisdictions off against one another to make the best deal, which amounts to the same thing).
Either way, it seems to escape our leaders that energy is not an end in itself. Productivity comes from how the energy is used. The number of green jobs would rocket if we were all given exercise bikes with dynamos, and think of the co-benefits: generation close to the point of use and improving community fitness levels to name but two. We could make the bikes in the UK, and the steel, etc, etc.
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More today from the Unite union on the collapse of the Campbeltown works:
“A leading union has taken aim at the owners of CS Wind after the company collapsed into administration on Wednesday.”
https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/348773/its-a-national-scandal-unite-slams-cs-wind-owners-as-company-enters-administration/
There are a few choice quotes:
“CS Wind’s demise will do nothing to quell the fears of those that feel workers in the UK are missing out on the benefits of the energy transition.
It comes less than a year after Burntisland Fabrications (BiFab) met the same fate after a deal to manufacture jackets for a wind turbine off the coast of Scotland collapsed.
In addition to criticising the owners, Unite has hit out at the Scottish and UK Governments over the “minimal” domestic manufacturing work that has been generated by the “billions of pounds” being invested into renewables.
Pat Rafferty, Unite Scottish Secretary, said: “Unite has repeatedly warned of the disgraceful situation developing at the hands of the South Korean owners who have a track record for taking millions in public funds only to run a factory into the ground.
“The Scottish Government has sat back and watched from the sideline offering absolutely nothing. It’s high time they accept that on their watch, for over a decade now, there has been minimal green and low-carbon manufacturing jobs directly created in Scotland.
“There is no jobs revolution – it’s a myth. The Scottish Government’s projection of nearly 50,000 jobs by 2020 comes crashing against the stark reality that for both the onshore and offshore wind sectors only 3,300 jobs were estimated to have been created by 2019. It’s a pathetic return on the billions of pounds being poured into and around Scotland’s shores. It’s a national scandal.””
Meanwhile, the SNP Government at Holyrood continues to bleat its pathetic platitudes:
“The Scottish Government expressed its frustration that the site had lain idle for “some considerable time”, despite “commitments made” by CS Wind when it took over the facility.
A Holyrood spokeswoman said: “To help tackle the climate crisis and support our just transition to net zero, the Scottish Government is investing in green skills and attracting new green job opportunities, including the establishment of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy.
“In November, Glasgow will host COP26 and Scotland can be proud that our climate change ambitions, backed by investment in creating a highly skilled green workforce, will be showcased on an international stage.
“The manufacturing facility at Machrihanish is a major asset to the Kintyre area and one that should be fully active and providing valuable local employment. Sadly it has been idle for some considerable time now, in spite of commitments made by CS Wind when they took over the lease. As owners of the site Highlands & Islands Enterprise are a listed creditor of CS Wind in the administration process and they will work closely with the administrators.””
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Presumably all “green” work is put out to competitive bidding and Scottish (or U.K.) contractors are then unsuccessful in the bidding process, losing out to foreign competitors. The “green” jobs may be there, but they have gone overseas. If the jobs are to be retained in the U.K. then energy costs will become even higher and numerous international laws will be broken. What are the unions plans to retain jobs in Scotland?
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Green jobs are available …. 😉
https://www.franchise-uk.co.uk/franchise/green-unicorns-solar-cleaning/
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Alan, of course there is something in what you say, but there are also problems with it. My article was about pointing out that the oft-repeated claims regarding the “green” jobs bonanza the UK is supposed to enjoy, are close to fantasy.
Secondly, although if contracts were given to more expensive UK companies employing UK residents and citizens, than to foreigners, costs might go up, but so might wages, and unemployment would go down, while the significant drag on the economy caused by the multiplier effect of funds leaving the country, would be avoided.
Finally, I’m not sure about the “numerous international laws” you think would be broken if contracts aren’t awarded to those offering the cheapest tender. One of the supposed benefits of leaving the EU was that the UK would then no longer have to be subject to the compulsory competitive tendering process that is enshrined in EU law. Of course the government might have compromised on that aim by giving something away when they negotiated the withdrawal and subsequent trade agreement with the EU – I confess I don’t know. I’m not sure any other international treaties or laws would be broken in that scenario: I could easily be wrong, but I don’t think the UK’s membership of the WTO precludes such behaviour.
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@Mark – from your comment above –
“A Holyrood spokeswoman said: “To help tackle the climate crisis and support our just transition to net zero, the Scottish Government is investing in green skills and attracting new green job opportunities, including the establishment of the Green Jobs Workforce Academy.”
wonder what she means by “our just transition to net zero” ?
Green Jobs Workforce Academy – what is it I wonder – “However Labour MSP Monica Lennon said the Academy was merely “a website sign-posting people to job adverts and various courses”
.
these people just spout the party line, with no thought involved (as the green jobs figures testify) & they never seem to have to justify this BS to the taxpayers
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dfhunter – very interesting. Reference to the Green Jobs Workforce Academy can be found here:
https://www.gov.scot/news/new-green-jobs-workforce-academy/
It looks as though Labour MSP Monica Lennon is correct:
“The new Green Jobs Workforce Academy, delivered by Skills Development Scotland, will help people take a greener approach to their careers, from accessing training and learning new skills, to finding a new green job.
This 100 days commitment of the new Scottish Government has been launched as the First Minister welcomed news that ScottishPower were creating 152 new green jobs, of which 135 will be based in Scotland.
These new roles will be listed on the academy’s website alongside information on the types of jobs emerging in sectors crucial to Scotland’s transition to a net-zero economy, such as renewable energy, construction and transport. ”
The Great Leader is quoted as saying:
““To help tackle climate change Scotland is already investing in green skills and attracting new green job opportunities. It is great to see ScottishPower creating 135 new green jobs in Scotland and I would encourage other employers to follow their lead. The Academy’s career advisors stand ready to support individuals interested in these jobs access the right training to help their career progress.”
Looks like an advertising puff piece, and not a lot else (though no doubt it will cost the taxpayer a slug of money).
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dfhunter, as for the “just transition to net zero” I imagine not many people are aware of the Scottish Government’s “Climate Justice Fund”:
https://www.gov.scot/policies/international-development/climate-justice-fund/
“Climate justice recognises that the poor and vulnerable at home and overseas are the first to be affected by climate change, and will suffer the worst, yet have done little or nothing to cause the problem.”
It’s interesting that it refers to the vulnerable at home and overseas, and yet, despite the recent efforts of the BBC and the Guardian to persuade us that Glasgow’s poor’s big problem is climate change, they don’t seem to have spent any of the Climate Justice Fund at home (unless you count the £2M given to the University of Strathclyde, but then that was for a project in Malawi, and I don’t think the University of Strathclyde can be regarded as “vulnerable”). In fact, most of the money seems to have gone to Malawi – does someone high-up in the SNP have a holiday home there, or something? I’m sure those climate change-threatened Glasgow east enders with some of the lowest life expectancies in Europe are delighted.
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“The ‘myth’ of Scotland’s green jobs revolution as key wind tower firm CS Wind goes bust”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19567997.myth-scotlands-green-jobs-revolution-key-wind-tower-firm-cs-wind-goes-bust/
The article is a re-hash of what I’ve posted above, but I think it bears repetition. Harsh reality meets spin (pardon the pun).
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“However Labour MSP Monica Lennon said the Academy was merely ‘a website sign-posting people to job adverts and various courses'”.
Indeed. Scotlands’s Green Jobs Workforce Academy is mostly just a way of doing a very crude search of an existing government-run job listing website. The Academy’s official URL, greenjobs.scot, diverts to a very simple page at My World of Work, which is run by Skills Development Scotland. If you click on ‘Jobs and courses’ on that page, you are taken to an equally simple page…
URL:https://careers.myworldofwork.co.uk/green-jobs-workforce-academy/jobs-and-courses
… that gives you the option to ‘Use our job search’.
Click on that and you search the entire My World of Work jobs list with the following keywords: energy efficiency, sustainable, hybrid, carbon, electric, renewables, environment, climate, circular economy.
Unsurprisingly, that search finds some jobs that aren’t at all green. For example, is driving an HGV for a poultry feed manufacturer a green job? Er, no. It’s offered as a green job solely because its description includes the word ‘environment’.
(Other job descriptions are so impenetrable that it’s impossible to tell whether or not they are green. They are utter bafflegab. But that’s what you’ll find when your search terms play buzzword bingo, innit.)
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Incidentally, a lot of the jobs are said to be ‘full time (35 hours)’. Is Scotland part of France now?
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The TUC seems to be operating on a different planet to its more realistic Scottish counterparts:
“TUC: Jobs at risk if UK fails to hit carbon emissions target”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58519996
“Up to 660,000 jobs could be at risk if the UK fails to reach its net-zero target as quickly as other nations, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) has warned.
The government has pledged to cut carbon emissions by 78% by 2035.
But the TUC fears many jobs could be moved offshore to countries offering superior green infrastructure and support for decarbonisation.
The union body is calling for an £85bn green recovery package to create 1.2 million green jobs.”
#MagicMoneyTree
Meanwhile, in the real world:
“Steel jobs could be at risk if industry comes under pressure this winter from soaring energy bills, sector’s trade association warns”
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-9978459/Soaring-gas-electricity-bills-putting-British-steel-jobs-risk.html?ito=amp_twitter_share-top
“Steel jobs could be at risk if the industry comes under pressure this winter from soaring energy bills, the sector’s trade association warned.
Gas prices in the UK and Europe have hit a series of record highs in the last few weeks and experts have said a cold winter could push them up further.
UK Steel has warned this would be ‘extremely damaging’ to companies of all sizes in the beleaguered sector, which has faced a series of crises over the last few years.
Gas prices have surged because of lower supplies from Russia, which has affected the amount being stored in Europe, and tough competition for liquefied natural gas imports.
Gareth Stace, director general of UK Steel, said: ‘Continued energy price spikes would be extremely damaging for the sector. Already we are facing electricity prices almost double those of our European competitors and these price increases only widen that chasm.’
Steel companies have for years asked the Government to cut energy bills for heavy industry, which they say is holding back investment.
UK producers pay 86 per cent more for power than their counterparts in Germany and 62 per cent more than France. “
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“UK producers pay 86 per cent more for power than their counterparts in Germany and 62 per cent more than France“
this is madness !!!
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dfhunter, yes it is madness, and it’s Government policy. Worse still, all the opposition parties say it doesn’t go far enough!
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Agreed Mark – found this related post – https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2021/09/09/does-aep-want-to-shut-the-uk-steel-industry-down/
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ahh – see you commented on above link, so not new to you.
found this comment at the link interesting/worthy to repost here –
“CheshireRed September 10, 2021 9:04 am
Wouldn’t it be reasonable to assume that the UK government has secretly decided to shut down UK steel manufacturing?
Here’s their rationale: global steel prices are on the floor. UK production prices are uncompetitive with China, with no prospect of ever being more competitive, either.
UK can thus source globally at lowest cost with no supply issues.
Steel is high emissions but relatively low numbers of employees. By offshoring energy-intensive steel UK makes large reductions in carbon emissions at a very low per-job cost.
They know their green transition will come with job losses in some areas, offset by gains in others. Just as they’ve sacked off thousands of coal mining jobs as a result of ditching coal, so too they’ve chosen to wave goodbye to steel industry jobs.
The Cumbria coal mine fiasco is another example. UK can’t miss 500 jobs we never had, so government have no problem blocking those jobs to prevent emissions from being allocated to UK total. Supply remains unaffected as can come from Australia, US or even Russia!
They can’t publicly admit these policies and may even have entered into a political code of Omerta with the Opposition, who’re all onside for the green thing. Hence Labour et al seldom question these matters at PMQ’s and so on.
This follows a similar pathway regarding high-emitting UK aluminum and cement manufacturing. That’s how I see it.”
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just reread your BBC TUC link and noted this bit –
“TUC research from June shows the UK is currently ranked second last among G7 economies for its investment in green infrastructure and jobs.
However, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) says the TUC’s claims are untrue and that it does not recognise their methodology.”
can’t see any links to data or the “BBC fact check team” at work to enlighten readers (BEEB seem to take any Union’s word for thing’s lately)
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dfhunter, as regards the TUC, it gets worse:
“UK must prepare for more economic shocks, says TUC”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58538887
“The UK needs to be better prepared for future economic shocks, says the TUC.
“Covid is not going to be a one-off,” the union federation’s general secretary, Frances O’Grady, will tell its annual congress later on Monday.
“Climate chaos is here already and the longer we put off getting to net zero, the more disruptive it will be,” she will add.”
It doesn’t seem to occur to her that the climate has no impact on UK jobs; the UK’s drive to net zero, without the rest of the world joining in (and possibly not even then) will make absolutely no difference whatsoever to her imaginary “climate chaos”; but that it is destroying UK jobs (the jobs of her members) at a rate of knots, and the “green” replacements aren’t forthcoming, in the UK economy at least.
As an erstwhile leftie and ex-Labour Party member (resigned in disgust years ago), I struggle to understand what on earth is going on among those who claim to be on the left of UK politics, who seem to be brainwashed into seeing the world through a looking glass, and in many ways doing the work of politicians on the right for them.
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“Climate change: Hydrogen to create jobs – but is it green enough?”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58545650
The heading might well have been “will there really be any jobs?” as the last paragraph makes clear:
“…Wales should learn lessons from the development of wind energy and try to “keep as many of the long-term jobs as possible in Wales and keep wealth and tax in the country too”.”
Which sounds like implicit acceptance of the fact that the development of wind energy has not created long-term jobs and hasn’t kept wealth and tax in the country.
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“Green jobs: The new generation of workers making it work for them”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-58549135
“From running huge wind farms out at sea to making new devices to heat our homes, the UK is seeing a rise in interest in so-called green jobs.
What counts as a green job? The simplest answer is that it directly contributes to tackling climate change, although many think it should also cover roles that indirectly support that ambition.
Either way, the UK government wants to create more of them, going from 410,000 now to two million of these jobs by 2030, as part of its plans for an economy with zero fossil fuel emissions.
It’s not a plan without risks, but some areas will provide opportunities to many. Here are three jobs in sectors that are growing – and what it’s like to do them.
Heating without emissions
…In Livingston, near Edinburgh, the Mitsubishi Electric factory is making one alternative: air-source heat pumps, which draw warmth from the air to heat your home and water, without releasing any carbon in the process….
…And it’s also sustainable for people installing heat pumps: in 2019 there were 900 – by 2028 there are expected to be 15,000.
…Low-carbon farming
…Visiting 21-year-old Beth Campbell at work in Scunthorpe is like stepping into a world from science fiction.
She works as a research assistant for Jones Food Company, which is the largest vertical farm in Europe. There she checks thousands of basil plants growing on huge trays stacked above each other, all bathed in a gentle purple light and fed a carefully controlled supply of nutrients….
…Fixing wind turbines at sea
Forests of wind turbines are springing up in the waters around the UK and that’s led to a boom in offshore building and maintenance….”
And that’s it. “Green” jobs in making the heating of our homes more expensive and less efficient; “green” jobs growing basil plants; “green” jobs” in connection with an environmentally unfriendly industry making our energy more expensive, more unreliable and less predictable, while de-stabilising the National Grid. Forgive me for remaining unimpressed.
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When one version of a story just isn’t enough:
“Green jobs: The UK’s future zero carbon industries”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/science-environment-58549519
“The UK’s transition to zero carbon will be a key issue in the upcoming COP26 climate talks in Glasgow.
It will mean the formation of new industries and jobs which didn’t exist a generation ago.
Beth Campbell, 21, is a research assistant at a vertical farm in Scunthorpe which uses renewable energy to grow crops which are then sold locally.
Bridie Salmon, 23, used to work in hospitality but is now retraining as an apprentice offshore wind turbine technician.
The BBC’s Science Editor David Shukman went to meet them.”
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“Plans to allow oil and gas workers to transfer to renewable energy jobs”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19590564.plans-allow-oil-gas-workers-transfer-renewable-energy-jobs/
“GOVERNMENT officials are drawing up plans to allow oil and gas workers to transfer to renewable energy jobs without having to fork out costly retraining costs – currently acting as a barrier to Scotland’s renewables revolution.
The SNP-Greens government has pledged to set out plans for a ‘just transition’ for oil and gas workers into renewables – but has faced criticism for a failure to bring forward 130,000 green jobs as promised….
…Currently, workers wishing to transfer from fossil fuel jobs into renewables are having to pay thousands of pounds to obtain qualifications no different to training they have already undertaken….”.
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“We tried to transition to green jobs, but the bosses are closing our car factory down
Frank Duffy
Though we don’t want to go on strike, we can’t stand by and watch the British car industry fall victim to offshoring”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/sep/20/green-jobs-car-factory-strike-industry-offshoring
“More than 500 workers, myself included, at the GKN Automotive factory in Birmingham have voted for strike action to save both our plant and British manufacturing. It’s the last thing we ever wanted to do, but we feel we have been left with no choice.
Currently, we manufacture and assemble components for drivelines, the all-important section underneath your car for transferring power from the engine and transmission to the wheels. In 2019, 90% of GKN’s components went into traditional combustion engines, but that may halve by 2025, with electric vehicles (EVs) taking 15% of components, and hybrids about 40%. The move to electric will only continue, as UK factories unveil their new vehicle plans before purely internal combustion engines are banned in 2030.
In order to future-proof our jobs and the British automotive industry, we need to transition to producing components for EVs, including new propulsion systems and e-drives. GKN has developed a new e-drive with UK government funding at its Oxfordshire research facility, but sadly we won’t see this innovation creating new green jobs for British workers. Melrose, the owners of GKN, have decided to close our plant in 2022 and move jobs overseas….
…Every automotive company in the world is gearing up for the transition. The future can’t be built on outsourced or offshored jobs, where workers in different countries are pitted against each other in a race to the bottom.
If we all want to see British manufacturing transition to new environmentally friendly technologies so that there are employment opportunities in the future, we need to retain jobs and skills like ours to make that happen. Support us. We’re fighting for your future too.”
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I’m prepared to concede the reality of “green” jobs if they actually exist. This is one to watch – is it just so much hot air or might some permanent jobs be created?
“Plan to revive Ardersier port for offshore turbine work”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-58663614
“A French renewable energy developer has proposed building parts for floating wind turbines at a former oil and gas fabrication yard in the Highlands.
BW Ideol plans to manufacture platforms called concrete floaters at Ardersier port on the Moray Firth coast.
Ardersier is largest brownfield port in the UK, with 400 acres (162ha) of formerly developed and now disused land and a quay more than a mile long.
Rigs and other offshore structures were built at the former McDermott Yard.
At its height, the yard employed about 4,500 people – but it closed in 2001 as demand dropped.
BW Ideol has signed an agreement with Ardersier Port Authority giving it long-term access to the port for the manufacture of the offshore turbine platforms.
Dredging work in the sea at the site is expected to start next month….”.
The BBC also reported on these plans in January 2019, so they seem to be taking a long time to become a reality. My guess is that government money will be required to make it happen.
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quote: “It would require 20 million tonnes of steel which, if made in the UK, could itself could support another 8,000 jobs.”
It was pointed out to me recently by a friend (*) (and to my surprise, and shame that I did not know), that steel production still depends on coal. There are other ways of doing it, and of course research is always ongoing, but apparently, they don’t scale up very well.
(*) who is as sceptical as I am about EVs, wind-farms & solar farms, but in other respects is on board with the CO2/AGW story )
e.g. https://www.straterra.co.nz/lets-talk-about-coal-2/future-of-coal/making-steel-without-coal/
Quote” Can the world produce steel without using coal? The short answer to this question is no, not at scale, at the present time. ”
Quote: “Now, nearly all new steel globally is produced using iron oxide and coking coal. Coking coal is usually bituminous-rank coal with special qualities that are needed in the blast furnace.
While an increasing amount of steel is being recycled, there is currently no technology to make steel at scale without using coal.”
Well, apparently it won’t always be like this:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottcarpenter/2020/08/31/swedish-steelmaker-uses-hydrogen-instead-of-coal-to-make-fossil-free-steel/?sh=1b6675db2c8b
Quote: “By substituting hydrogen and zero-carbon electricity for coking coal and other fossil fuels traditionally used to make steel, the firm says it could have the first fossil-free steel on the market by 2026, even if commercial production wouldn’t come until later. …”
So, hydrogen and zero-carbon electricity needed. What could possibly go wrong? Well, we have until 2026 to find out. Or “until later”.
Do Johnson & Keir Starmer et al know about this? Do the IPCC?
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“Bristol’s climate debates lack diverse voices, study finds”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-58848938
“A study has said there is a “worrying lack of diversity” in city-wide debates and decisions made over climate change.
The University of Bristol spent one year focussing on the work of six climate change bodies, both public and private sector, in the city.
Researcher Dr Alix Dietzel said: “From what we know from global negotiations, which is what I studied prior to this research, this is quite common.”
The mayor of Bristol, Labour’s Marvin Rees, has welcomed the report findings.
“Certain voices dominate the discussion and it tends to be the most privileged in society and obviously in our case that would be white men,” Dr Dietzel added.
The six bodies reviewed were:
Bristol One City Board (public sector)
Bristol Advisory Committee on Climate Change (public sector)
Sustrans (private sector)
Bristol Energy (private sector)
Black and Green Ambassadors (civil society)
Fossil Free Bristol (civil society)”
Perhaps being a white man I don’t worry about the findings as much as I should. I recognise that there may be issues around diversity, but to me the big story here is that there are six bodies – SIX! – in Bristol alone! – focussed on climate change. What on earth do they all do? What – if anything – do they achieve? What do they all cost? Are these the “green jobs” we’re always being told about?
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“Climate change: Welsh industry’s 23 million tonne carbon problem”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-58817328
“”Genuine courage” is needed to tackle climate change in Wales, which produces a fifth of the UK’s industrial emissions, an economist has said.
Thousands of Welsh jobs rely on Tata’s steelworks in Port Talbot and RWE’s gas power station in Pembrokeshire, the UK’s top two emitters.
Prof Calvin Jones said it was “good news” that a big difference can be made from a small number of industries.
But he said people should accept not every industry will survive.”
Well, that’s good news! I think, rather than genuine courage, he means genuine stupidity. This plan will destroy much of what’s left of UK industry, forcing us to import stuff from the other side of the world, and will not make a jot of difference to global CO2 emissions, as a consequence. In the meantime, people will be put out of work.
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“Foreign investment deals to create 30,000 UK jobs, says government”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58959061
“Foreign investment deals in low-carbon sectors in the UK to be announced on Tuesday will create about 30,000 jobs, the government has said.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to announce 18 new deals worth £9.7bn as he opens a global investment summit.
They include investments in sectors such as wind and hydrogen energy, sustainable homes and carbon capture.
The prime minister said investors had recognised “the massive potential in the UK for growth and innovation”.
Investments from companies such as Spanish energy firm Iberdrola, logistics firm Prologis and grocery service Getir would power the UK’s economic recovery and help to achieve the government’s levelling up agenda, he added.”
More like investors have recognised the massive taxpayer-funded subsidies on offer in the UK. BY the way, those numbers work out at £323,333.33 per job.
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“Want to know what a just transition to a green economy looks like? Ask the workers
Anna Markova
People don’t need catchprases: they need resources and empowerment so they can secure good green jobs
Anna Markova is the Trades Union Congress’s co-lead on climate and industrial policy”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/18/just-transition-green-economy-workers-resources-empowerment
“If you really want to know what a just transition looks like, don’t start with the official speeches of Cop26. Ideally, don’t even ask me. Ask those who need it most.
Ask a teenager in south Wales, where coal mining jobs have not been replaced by alternatives and unemployment levels are among the highest in the UK. Ask the oil rig worker who has been travelling to work by helicopter for 15 years but is having to pay £2,000 for yet another helicopter safety training course to be able to work on a wind turbine. Ask the Eurostar driver who does not know if the train she drives will still be running in two months’ time. Ask, if you can, one of the Uyghur people forced by Chinese authorities to work in a labour camp to make polysilicone for solar panels.
They can tell you about an unjust transition – the opposite of how we want to change our lifestyles and economies to meet net zero. Just transition mustn’t become a global policy-speak catchphrase, reduced to the intersection between environmental and social concerns, or vague promises of skills training. A real just transition makes sure people don’t lose out as their lives and livelihoods are transformed by climate action. Like the up to 600,000 workers in UK manufacturing and supply chains, whose future employment relies on government and industry investing to retool and decarbonise.”
Wow, I thought. Some honesty around this debate at last, and from someone whose members are at the sharp end of the “transition” too. But read on:
“So what do they need from the rest of us? First: resources. To give the at-risk jobs of today a future, governments must invest to build the pioneering zero-carbon steel plants, the fabrication yards and ports, and the domestic supply chains that the industries of tomorrow need. The TUC has called for £85bn of green infrastructure investment over the next two years. And where public funding takes the first step, private capital will follow.
Governments must invest, too, in the public sector. They must give more resources to local councils to insulate homes in their area and support the NHS’s net zero plan. And they need to invest worldwide: industrialised countries are well behind on their $100bn climate finance pledge to the global south.
Second: a say over how the transition happens. The postie knows what they need from the delivery rotas of the future. The oil worker knows what training he requires. The coalminer knows what she wants to do when the mine closes. This knowledge should shape the transition. Each workplace needs a formal agreement negotiated between unions and employers about the nature and pace of change – and a plan for how good jobs will be protected. This needs to be supported with commissions both locally and nationally, where unions, employers and governments listen to each other and devise a common plan for their industries and areas. The lack of planning and coordination in the UK is a key reason why we’re lurching from one crisis to the next today.
Third: the removal of barriers. No worker should see their income plummet or have to pay to retrain if their workplace shuts down. And no worker should be barred from the jobs of the future, whether by biased recruitment practices, lack of support for parents or for disabled people, or by institutional racism.
Fourth and finally: job quality. Green jobs must be great jobs. If a job involves back-breaking work and pays badly, if the work is unreliable or on a precarious contract, if the employer doesn’t recognise unions and if employees have to pay for their own training, then no wonder workers aren’t lining up to switch careers.
Any job can be a good job. If we want workers to move from high carbon jobs to net zero jobs, climate movements must help unions fight for decent pay, terms and conditions. When these four challenges are met – enough resources, workers’ voices listened to, barriers brought down, every green job a good job – climate action will be made with people, not done to them.”
And so we’re back to the usual point where all this breaks down. #MagicMoneyTree.
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“Steel will be vital to the green revolution, but our industry needs help to change”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/20/steel-green-revolution-industry-government-investment-technology-jobs-turbines-electric-cars
“…Today, high energy costs are making it hard for the industry and are counterproductive as all of the viable low carbon solutions to steelmaking require more electricity than we use today. Therefore, the government also needs to do something about electricity prices, to ensure that in circumstances where it’s the right move to use electric arc technology or any other technology, it is a sustainable business model.
Looking ahead, a lot of people think that hydrogen steelmaking will be the future. But for that to become a reality requires government investment to ensure that the infrastructure is there. It seems to be a question of who will make the first move. Will companies commit to a hydrogen transition, or will the government commit to delivering the infrastructure that they can plug into?…
…On a more personal level, we saw what happened to the steelworkers in Redcar when industrial change is not managed properly. Thousands of jobs gone, entire communities without work, knock-on effects felt by generations.
I’ve seen first-hand the impact of industries lost. Communities like Aberfan, Merthyr Vale or Ebbw Vale, just three miles from where I lived, were destroyed by crude industrial policies, and left ill-equipped to handle the transition away from coal. As a child I remember going with my mother to collect food for the striking miners. I did it once, I don’t want to do it again. We need a greener steel industry, a just transition, and we’ve no time to waste.
Jacqueline Thomas has been a full-time member of the steel industry since 2005. She lives just outside Ebbw Vale, whose steelworks closed in 2002.”
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“COP26: South Africa hails deal to end reliance on coal”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-59135169
“South Africa is set to receive $8.5bn (£6.2bn) to help end its reliance on coal in a deal announced at the COP26 climate summit.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has called it a “watershed moment”.
The country is currently a major emitter of greenhouse gases as a result of its addiction to coal, which it uses to generate electricity.
This deal, funded by wealthier nations, could have both global and local implications.
The vast scale of the coal operation run by the country’s state power company Eskom makes South Africa the 12th biggest carbon dioxide emitter in the world, according to the Global Carbon Atlas.
Some of those at the heart of South Africa’s coal country hope that the latest deal could ease the environmental and health impacts of the power sector.”
Sounds great, but read on:
“The mines in Mpumalanga may cause environmental problems but they provide vital jobs.
‘What about our jobs?’
The metal workers’ union cites research saying that 100,000 jobs in mining and the associated industries could be at stake.
“No social plans, as far as we know, have been developed to assist all those communities who are going to be affected by that,” National Union of Metal Workers spokesman Phakamile Hlubi told the BBC.
“If you’re not going to replace those jobs with something, you’re going to turn that entire province into a ghost town.”
This sentiment may have been at the heart of what was before COP26 seen as a slow approach taken by some in government.
Mining Minister Gwede Mantashe favoured a gradual change, urging people not to be “emotional” about demanding transition.
But now the 2050 deadline to close most of the country’s coal plants can be brought forward.”
They’d better hope some of that money is spent on green jobs, whatever they might be.
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If these people get their way, they’re going to need an awful lot of “green” jobs to replace the ones they’re determined to phase out:
“Climate change: Welsh ministers demand scrapping of mining licence”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-59164533
“The Welsh government has called for the mining licence for Aberpergwm colliery, near Glynneath, to be cancelled.
Deputy Climate Change Minister Lee Waters said he had urged the UK government to stop “40 million tonnes of coal” being extracted “from Welsh soil” over the next 18 years.
Welsh ministers have a “clear policy of stopping using fossil fuels”, he said.
But the mine operator says it supplies niche industries like water filtration and steel production.
It says it provides 160 well paid jobs in the Vale of Neath area, plus 16 apprenticeships.”
It’s quite something, isn’t it, when a government demands action to render some of its own people unemployed.
Then there’s this:
“Scrap Scottish salmon farms – Chris Packham” – at 17.53 today on the BBC at:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science_and_environment
“Chris Packham, the environmental campaigner and presenter of the BBC’s Springwatch series, has visited COP26 and says the host country should “get rid of highly polluting, nasty salmon farms”.
The industry is said to be worth more than £1bn a year to the economy, with hundreds of thousands of fish raised in pens suspended in the open sea lochs around Scotland’s west coast and the Northern Isles.”
What with all the workers to be thrown on the scrap heap, and the all the damage to be done to the economy, and all the costs of net zero, boy do we need a lot of well-paid and useful green jobs.
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“Scotland’s papers: What next for Scotland’s oil and care crisis fears”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59258357
“As COP26 comes towards an end in Glasgow, some of Scotland’s newspapers look at the future of Scotland’s oil and gas industry. The Scottish Daily Express reports that First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has been holding talks with groups dedicated to phasing out fossil fuels. It says confusion over government policy has “left thousands of jobs in the balance”.”
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“Blow to UK battery industry hopes as Johnson Matthey halts research
British chemical giant to exit sector saying it is lagging too far behind rivals already making batteries at scale”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/nov/11/blow-to-uk-battery-industry-hopes-as-johnson-matthey-halts-research
“Britain’s hopes to grab a slice of the fast-growing market for electric vehicle batteries have been dealt a blow after one of the UK’s biggest chemicals companies said it would give up on developing the technology.
Johnson Matthey, a member of the FTSE 100, announced plans on Thursday to exit the battery materials business because it is too far behind rivals who are already making batteries at gigantic scale.
The shares plunged 17% on Thursday to their lowest level since December, wiping more than £900m off the company’s market value as it also announced that the chief executive would step aside.
To add to its difficulties, supply chain shortages hitting the automotive industry mean that profits will be at the lower end of expectations.
Johnson Matthey makes most of its money from producing catalytic converters to clean exhaust emissions from petrol and diesel cars. However, impending bans on internal combustion engines in the UK and around the world have forced the company and many other suppliers to find new ways of making money.
Developing lithium-ion batteries with carefully fine-tuned chemistries seemed an obvious choice, and the company had been on track to start building a new factory in Finland to build as many as 300,000 automotive batteries a year.
It could now be forced to write down £340m in assets in that business, which employs 430 people. It will attempt to sell all or parts of the unit, although it noted it had found the required investments too expensive to compete with rivals.”
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“Johnson Matthey makes most of its money from producing catalytic converters to clean exhaust emissions from petrol and diesel cars”
sorry “Johnson Matthey” you & your workforce just have to go. save the planet comes first.
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“More work needed to create green jobs, report says”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59430224
“Efforts to create so-called green jobs need to intensify if the UK government is to achieve its target of two million roles by 2030, according to a report.
Jobs linked to the green economy accounted for 1.2% of all advertised roles in the year to July 2021, consultancy PwC said.
That equates to just 124,600 new jobs.
Boosting green job creation is part of the government’s “green industrial revolution” plans.
In November 2020, the government announced £4bn would be spent on creating up to 250,000 new green jobs as part of its plan to hit net zero emissions by 2050.
The COP 26 summit held in Glasgow a year later has put the issue into sharp focus again.
But there are concerns that the green jobs transition could pose some risks, as it will impact on traditional jobs, especially in polluting industries.
In September, the Trade Union Congress (TUC) warned up to 660,000 jobs could be at risk if the UK fails to reach its net-zero target as quickly as other nations.
PwC’s report said work was needed to ensure the move to a net-zero economy does not add to regional inequalities.”
Just 124,600 new jobs so far, while 660,000 are at risk (and Cumbria can’t have a coal mine). I loved the phrase “linked to the green economy” too. I wonder how hard they had to work to massage the figure up to 124,600 new green jobs? And I’d love to know what those jobs are and how much they’ve cost the taxpayer to date.
“In its research, PwC said jobs that support the green economy indirectly should also be considered green.
Such roles might include environmental advisors or experts in environmental or sustainability research and education.”
Yeah, right.
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“Cambo: Jobs warning as Shell pulls out of oil field development”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-59517776
“Business leaders have warned that thousands of oil and gas jobs could be at risk in the UK after Shell pulled out of the Cambo oil field development.
Aberdeen’s Chamber of Commerce said a “premature” end to domestic production could see some areas suffer the fate of mining communities in the 1980s.
Environmentalists say new fossil fuel projects like Cambo are incompatible with action on climate change….
…Siccar Point Energy is currently awaiting approval from the UK government to develop the field.
Chief executive Jonathan Roger said other countries including Norway were investing in new oil and gas alongside renewables as part of a transition to sustainable energy.
He added: “The UK is at risk of damaging its economy and increasing imports with a higher carbon impact if new developments are not brought forward during this time.”
Shell, which has faced widespread criticism over its 30% stake in Cambo, said it now believed the economic case for investment was “not strong enough”.
Greenpeace welcomed the announcement, describing it as the “death blow” for the plans.
But industry body Oil and Gas UK insisted developments such as Cambo were still needed.”
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Meanwhile, in La-La Land:
“The Guardian view on North Sea oil: keep it in the ground
Editorial
Britain won’t convince anyone else to ditch fossil fuels when it won’t do so itself”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/dec/03/the-guardian-view-on-north-sea-oil-keep-it-in-the-ground
Because relying exclusively on renewables and electricity for everything looks like a real winner a week after Storm Arwen hit, doesn’t it?
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This blog suggests that the Cambo field would not be profitable for Shell unless the oil price was consistently above ~$100
https://consciousnessofsheep.co.uk/2021/12/03/in-brief-cambo-crunch-blue-wall-blues-economic-headwinds-and-then-all-the-chairs-were-facing-backward/
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Bill, an interesting blog – thanks for providing the link.
I have no idea whether or not it’s correct, but having re-visited the BBC report, I note that one thing it doesn’t address is the economic viability (or otherwise) of the Cambo oil field, which is a rather large lacuna in an article which purports to be all about it.
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“Teesworks wind turbine plant deal delayed, company says”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-59700321
“A deal to make wind turbine blades on Teesside has been delayed but the area’s mayor says talks are now “progressing at pace”.
US company GE Renewable Energy announced it would build 350ft (107m)-long turbine blades at the Teesworks site in March.
The turbine factory was touted to supply the enormous Dogger Bank wind farm, off Teesside’s coast.
Tees Mayor Ben Houchen said political opponents were “spreading rumours”.
He said: “I can confirm that GE are completely committed to coming to Teesside and we continue to work with them to finalise legal agreements and factory building specifications.
“Preparation of the site is almost ready and construction of the factory will start early next year,” he added.
But a spokesperson for GE told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “GE Renewable Energy’s LM Wind Power business is currently facing delays in the finalisation of the leasing agreement and design to open its new blade manufacturing plant in Teesside, England….
…In March the company said it hoped to start production making wind turbine blades for the UK offshore wind market at the Teesworks site in 2023.
It said the plant could create 750 direct renewable energy jobs and about 1,500 indirect jobs.
Reports of snags first emerged in Renewable Energy News over claims GE was putting plans on ice due to concerns about Siemens winning key wind farm contracts….”
No jobs yet, then.
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“Electric buses should be made in Wales not imported, says minister”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59880876
“Electric buses should be made in Wales instead of being imported from China, Wales’ deputy minister for climate change has said.
Lee Waters wants to see an electric bus factory opened in Wales to create green jobs.
But one UK manufacturer said it had approached the Welsh government to build a factory and had received “no traction”.
Recently Newport and Cardiff bus companies have bought Chinese vehicles.”
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Er, why not build the factory, make the product, and try to sell it? What has the government to do with things?
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“Ovo expected to make a quarter of staff redundant due to energy crisis
UK energy supplier trying to control costs by cutting 1,700 jobs as gas market price soars to all-time high”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/12/ovo-expected-to-make-a-quarter-of-staff-redundant-due-to-energy-crisis
“Ovo Energy is moving to cut a quarter of its entire workforce in an attempt to cut costs amid the growing industry crisis.
The UK’s third-biggest supplier of gas and electricity is expected to announce the loss of 1,700 roles out of 6,200 as part of a voluntary redundancy scheme as soon as Thursday.”
Net zero Britain – destroying jobs.
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“Ovo Energy set to close Perth office in UK job cuts plan”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-59941735
“Ovo Energy’s Perth office is set to close after the gas and electricity provider told UK staff it planned to cut a quarter of its workforce.
Staff have been told that 1,700 employees across the UK will lose their jobs through voluntary redundancy.
It is understood that about 700 people work in the Perth office.
Two bases in Edinburgh and one in Cumbernauld will also close as it reduces its UK offices from 10 to three.”
Where have all the green jobs gone?
Oh, is this them?
“The job cuts are understood to be linked to the company’s acquisition of SSE three years ago and the integration of the firm into Ovo.
Ovo said it would also create a new “Ovo Academy” in Glasgow which would create “new opportunities in the city that hosted COP26 for those who want to be at the forefront of the UK’s green revolution.”
About 1,000 call centre staff will be trained to become zero-carbon living advisers, with specialist knowledge of green home products and technologies from tariffs, to making homes more energy efficient.”
Hmmm.
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“Brussels sets its sights on British wind power
EU demands access to UK wind farm contracts as figures show that wind energy has fallen to four-year low”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2022/01/28/brussels-sets-sights-british-wind-power/
“…Fife-based Burntisland Fabrications, collapsed a few years later in December 2020. Work it was hoping to get for offshore wind farms was awarded to firms abroad.
Its demise fuelled mounting anger that the economic rewards from the UK’s rapid growth in offshore wind farms were not being felt domestically, as jobs and cash instead went abroad, including to China and the UAE.
Efforts since made to try and reverse that situation and protect UK jobs now face a challenge from abroad. The European Commission is examining whether Britain is unfairly prioritising local firms and, reported the Sun, is on the brink of filing a challenge with the World Trade Organisation.
That could test the balance ministers appear to be trying to strike: pushing wind farm developers towards hiring local companies and talking up their prospects, yet not putting legal requirements in place that would risk falling foul of fair trade rules.
It comes amid mounting concern about how certain workers will fare in the shift towards greener energy. In particular, whether thousands of workers in the oil and gas industry will find a new home in the growing offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture sectors as the UK shifts away from fossil fuels.
Unions are watching closely. “If the UK doesn’t secure the tens of thousands of green manufacturing jobs needed to develop the next generation of offshore wind, then it won’t be the fault of the EU, it will be the fault of the UK Government,” says Gary Smith, general secretary of the GMB Union.
“Ministers know this, so rather than bleating about what competitors may or may not do, they need to get our own house in order so we can start onshoring the jobs from our renewables sector that have been offshored to the rest of the world over the last decade.
“Bluntly, the credibility of the government’s ‘levelling-up’ and ‘green industrial revolution’ agendas depend on this.”….”.
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Apart from the lack of green jobs, there’s also the damage to energy-intensive jobs to think about:
“Thousands of Liberty Steel jobs at risk in England as HMRC files winding-up order
Unions condemn move as ‘devastating blow’ saying plants must remain open”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/feb/10/thousands-of-liberty-steel-jobs-at-risk-england-hmrc-winding-up-order
“As many as 3,000 workers in five of Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel plants across England face losing their jobs after HM Revenue and Customs filed petitions to wind up their operating companies over unpaid taxes.
Gupta’s GFG Alliance metals empire could be at risk if four Liberty companies fail to reach an agreement with HMRC and other creditors, after a year of struggles after the collapse of Greensill Capital, its main lender.
Unions condemned the move as a devastating blow, saying the plants must be kept open because of Liberty’s strategic importance to the UK economy.
The four companies under threat are:
Speciality Steel UK, which employs close to 2,000 people at Rotherham and Stocksbridge in South Yorkshire.
Liberty Merchant Bar at Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire.
Liberty Performance Steels Ltd at West Bromwich in the West Midlands.
Liberty Pipes at Hartlepool in County Durham….
…Nevertheless, the pressures on Gupta’s companies have been compounded by energy prices, which have surged at an unprecedented rate in recent months. Energy costs have meant the plants are operating at less-than-full capacity despite global high prices for steel, according to a source briefed on the operations.
A Liberty Steel spokesperson highlighted “a very challenging backdrop in the UK with record high energy prices”….”.
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I try to be fair and balanced, more so than the BBC or the Guardian, I like to think. In fairness, therefore, these do look like a disappointingly small number of the much-vaunted green jobs, but anything is better than nothing, and in an area that really needs them too. It’s a shame that it’s not a UK company, but a South Korean one, that’s doing the business. Let’s hope that Teesside isn’t left high and dry as others have been by Korean companies in Scotland, once the grants ran out. Anyway, here’s the story:
“Teesside wind power investment deal creates 750 jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60376188
“A factory to make the foundations for off-shore wind turbines will be built on Teesside creating 750 jobs.
SeAH Wind will produce 150 steel monopiles a year when it fully opens in 2026, the South Korean company said.
It had announced it would open on the banks of the Humber but instead will work from the former steelworks site at South Bank near Middlesbrough.
They will be used to build the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank.
Work on the site could start in July.”
The bit the BBC doesn’t mention is this:
“It will be built on the 4.5m sq ft offshore wind and industrial space being created on 450 acres of land next to the wharf and heavy-lift South Bank Quay.
The first phase of the quay was recently awarded £107m of funding in the UK Infrastructure Bank’s first ever investment.”
https://www.constructionenquirer.com/2022/02/14/s-koreans-to-build-300m-monopile-factory-on-teesside/
Does “awarded funding” mean that a grant was given or a loan made, and in either case, on what terms? If it’s a grant, it looks as though each job is costing the taxpayer close on £1.5M. Why is the BBC reporting so gushingly favourable and lacking in critical detail?
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Well, quite a day in terms of establishing that the “green jobs” publicity is a myth. I give credit to the Guardian for publicising this, but not for drawing the conclusion that we “need to do more” (to paraphrase roughly). First up:
“UK green economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data
Office for National Statistics finds ‘no significant change’ in turnover and jobs in low-carbon and renewable energy sector”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/17/uk-green-economy-has-failed-to-grow-since-2014-official-figures-show
“The UK’s low-carbon and renewable energy economy has failed to grow since 2014, according to official data showing a fall in the number of green jobs.
In a blow to the government’s pledge to boost net-zero employment opportunities, the Office for National Statistics said its latest figures, covering 2020, showed “no significant change” in turnover and job numbers in the sector compared with six years earlier.
Employment in the low-carbon and renewable energy economy – which includes manufacturing, energy supply and construction – fell by about 28,000 across the UK over the period, to just 207,800. Among the steepest declines were in factories producing energy-efficient products, onshore wind, and solar energy….
…Although the latest snapshot includes the first year of the coronavirus pandemic – when the British economy plunged into the deepest recession for 100 years – the figures show that in 2019, before the health emergency struck, green business turnover also fell compared with a year earlier.
According to the latest data, the sector with the largest growth in jobs was in low-emission vehicles and infrastructure, where employment more than doubled to 19,100. However, this was not enough to offset bigger falls elsewhere, including a decline of more than a quarter, or 32,000, in the number of jobs in energy-efficient product manufacturing.
The number of green businesses operating in the UK fell by 13% over the six-year period, while the combined turnover for the low-carbon economy fell by almost 6% to £41.2bn….
…While green sectors including offshore wind have recorded substantial growth in recent years, with a sharp rise in renewable energy production, critics argue that much of the activity has been driven by foreign companies, with a reliance on the UK importing turbine blades and components manufactured abroad….”
Then there’s Larry Elliott in the Guardian (thank goodness for the voice of sanity there):
“Hard data blows apart UK rhetoric on leading the way to a green economy”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/feb/17/hard-data-blows-apart-uk-rhetoric-on-leading-the-way-to-a-green-economy
“…The problem is the claims of global leadership don’t tally with the hard data. Turnover in the low-carbon and renewable energy sector was the same in 2020 as in 2014. The number of people employed has actually fallen by 28,000 to just over 200,000.
To take a specific example, at the last count there were only 2,300 people working in the booming offshore wind sector – down by a third since the middle of the last decade. The reason is simple. Unlike oil and gas rigs, nobody works full-time on the turbines and their manufacture has been outsourced to other countries. It is the same story in solar, where employment has dropped by 40% to 4,300.
To be clear, the lack of tangible progress is not due to the pandemic, because jobs and turnover – according to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics – were both flatlining even before the arrival of Covid-19….”
And here’s the link to the ONS data:
https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/finalestimates/2020
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Who says there are no green jobs? Someone will have to re-erect and/or rebuild the turbine in Wales that was blown over by, er, wind.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60390094
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but wait, i’ve seen the ads on TV – “WE ARE GOING GREEN” !!!!
must be some mistake in your or ONS numbers?
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This story is from the other side of the planet to those of us who are in the UK, and it isn’t about the lack of green jobs; rather it’s about the destruction of real jobs and the imposition of poverty on those who earn a living from supplying reliable energy when they are told that it’s dirty and has to stop. Nevertheless, I think it’s worth mentioning here, because in many ways it’s simply the other side of the coin. I am impressed that the Guardian has reported in this way, but am less impressed by what look to me like crocodile tears:
“‘A train wreck’: what happens to workers and towns when the lights go out on coal power?
Eraring, the country’s largest coal-fired power station, will shut in three years, but transition plans for employees, communities – and the grid – are lacking”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/19/a-train-wreck-what-happens-to-workers-and-towns-when-the-lights-go-out-on-coal-power
“…“But it’s the workers I worry about. They’ve got families as well. Who is going to support them?”
Origin Energy said its decision reflected a rapidly changing energy market in which traditional power stations could not compete with cheaper, renewable options.
The Nature Conservation Council of NSW estimated the exit of Eraring would avoid up to 87m tonnes of climate pollution, describing it as a “ray of hope for leaving a safe climate for our children”.
But the council said the NSW and federal governments also had a task ahead of them to ensure a seamless transition for both the energy grid and communities affected by station closures.
In the NSW Hunter region, four power stations are set to close – on current schedules – by 2033.
AGL’s Liddell power station is first in 2023, followed by Eraring in 2025, Vales Point in 2029 and Bayswater no later than 2033.
Governments have had years to prepare communities and workers for the transition to a green economy.
And yet calls for action from the Lake Macquarie region have gone unanswered.
Kay Fraser is the mayor of Lake Macquarie city council, which serves a population of 209,000 in centres including Belmont, Charlestown, Swansea, Toronto, Morriset and Warners Bay.
She said the community was “devastated” by Thursday’s announcement, which would affect not only the 400 workers at the plant but thousands more in the supply chain, and the areas they live.
“We’ve known this was coming but it’s like a train wreck,” she said….”.
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Mark – posted this earlier but seems to be blocked (so i stripped out links)
“had a look at the Guardian link & links it supplied to find if the quote –
“Origin Energy said its decision reflected a rapidly changing energy market in which traditional power stations could not compete with cheaper, renewable options.” was accurate.
seems the CEO did say –
“Origin’s chief executive, Frank Calabria, said the energy market was now “very different” from when Eraring began fully operating in 1984. The plant provides about a fifth of NSW’s electricity generation. “The reality is the economics of coal-fired power stations are being put under increasing, unsustainable pressure by cleaner and lower cost generation, including solar, wind and batteries,” he said in a statement.”
out of curiosity I went to Origin’s website & found they have a sustainability tab.
it makes sense now, when read with the Guardian quote –
“Matt Kean, the NSW treasurer and energy minister, said he was disappointed by Origin’s decision and acknowledged the closure would cause problems for the grid if not replaced. He promised the state would build what he described as the “biggest battery in the southern hemisphere” in response.
Called the “Waratah super battery”, it would have a 700MW/1400 megawatt hour capacity, and would be initially funded through a new Transmission Acceleration Facility promised to “fast-track the delivery of critical transmission infrastructure”. He said the state’s electricity infrastructure roadmap, supporting a number of new renewable energy zones, would receive an additional $84m funding and another $47.5m would be spent on pumped hydro storage.”
ps – ties in with your latest comment on “Saving the Planet by Trashing it”
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Ben PIle, once of this parish, writing today at Spiked Online:
“The green industrial revolution is a lie
The UK’s green sector has not grown in nearly a decade.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2022/02/22/the-green-industrial-revolution-is-a-lie/
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That’s OK. Greens don’t believe in growth…
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“FMQs: Bi-Fab yard forced to hire overseas staff to make windfarm parts”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19950402.fmqs-bi-fab-yard-forced-hire-overseas-staff-make-windfarm-parts/
“A SCOTTISH based company was forced to recruit “dozens” of workers from overseas to build windfarm equipment despite Nicola Sturgeon promising the renewable sector would provide “truly historic” job opportunities for local people.
The issue was raised at First Minister’s Questions today in Holyrood by the Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole Hamilton in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fears over energy supplies….
…the Lib Dem MSP said while the Bi-Fab plant, in Methil, Fife, recently been taken over by a new owner InfraStrata plc, had won contracts, but could not find qualified staff.
“The aggression that has been demonstrated by the Russian regime in recent days asks us, once again, searching questions about our energy security.
“Fifteen years ago, Alex Salmond thundered that Scotland would become the ‘Saudi Arabia of renewables’. A few weeks ago, the First Minister boasted of a ‘truly historic’ opportunity for renewables jobs,” he told the chamber.
“Now the new owner of the Burntisland Fabrications site, InfraStrata plc, has secured work, but cannot find Scottish workers. There are not enough trained workers among the colossal wind farms of the Forth estuary to build even eight turbine jackets.
“Instead, the new owner has had to recruit dozens of workers from abroad, because the Scottish National Party has failed to train enough skilled workers here. Not only are most of the wind farms being built in the far east, but the work that we have won is not being built by workers from Scotland.
“Does that not show that the SNP’s renewables policy is all wind and no jobs?”…”.
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“Seagreen: Firm behind Angus offshore wind farm pipeline in receivership”
https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/business-environment/business/3102515/seagreen-firm-behind-angus-offshore-wind-farm-pipeline-in-receivership/
“The firm installing a pipeline to a major offshore wind farm off the Angus coast has been placed in receivership.
Roadbridge was responsible for the installation of more than 11 miles (19km) of cable for the Seagreen windfarm pipeline.
It runs from Carnoustie to the proposed substation at Tealing.
It is central to the £3 billion joint venture between TotalEnergies and SSE Renewables, which is scheduled to enter commercial operation in 2023.
Roadbridge UK is a subsidiary of Roadbridge Ltd, based in the Republic of Ireland.
The company cited financial difficulties as it entered receivership.”
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Mark – can’t read your link (blocked) but it’s another worrying sign.
googled it & found this –
https://www.scottishconstructionnow.com/articles/offshore-windfarm-pipeline-to-be-brought-onshore-under-carnoustie-golf-course
“A deal has been concluded to allow the developer behind what will become Scotland’s largest offshore windfarm to use Carnoustie’s world-famous golf links for its cabling.” – how dare they dig up Carnoustie !!! are the greens to green enough ?
comment will get blocked again I expect – I may give up
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Curious that the link didn’t work. I just checked it in case I made a mistake when posting it, and it worked OK for me.
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“Teesside’s Lighthouse Green Fuels Project gets Saudi £1bn”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-60761832
“…Alfanar said 700 jobs would be created in the construction of the Lighthouse Green Fuels Project at Billingham and 240 jobs when it is operational….”.
Read on to the very end:
“Alfanar was previously awarded £2.4m by the UK government as part of its Green Fuels, Green Skies competition to take the project forward.”
A mere £10,000 of taxpayers’ money per permanent job – a bargain! Of course, what we aren’t told, is what sort of jobs they are, how many are part-time and how many are full-time etc.
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The sad, and probably inevitable, next step from the news of receivership:
“Jobs lost after civil engineer Roadbridge UK collapses”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-60793817
“Dozens of workers across Scotland have been made redundant following the collapse of the UK subsidiary of Irish civil engineering firm Roadbridge.
Roadbridge UK went into receivership last week after administrators from Grant Thornton were called in.
The “vast majority” of the firm’s 215 employees have now been made redundant, the administrators confirmed…
…Roadbridge UK was involved in a number of high-profile civil engineering projects in Scotland, including the Whitelee wind farm extension and the A737 Dalry Bypass in Ayrshire….”.
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“Anglesey: Orthios eco park placed into administration”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60914824
“The company behind a £1bn eco park on Anglesey has been placed into administration, sparking fears over job losses.
Orthios, based at the former Anglesey Aluminium site, confirmed their main private investor has decided to put the business into administration.
Local MP Virginia Crosbie said she feared 120 staff may have lost their jobs.
Plans for the large biomass plant and eco park were revealed in 2016.
Member of the Senedd for Ynys Mon, Rhun ap Iorwerth has written to the company and the Welsh government to seek reassurances and help for workers.
An Orthios employee contacted BBC Wales, claiming they had received a message from their supervisor, telling them the company had gone into administration and all staff had been made redundant.”
It wasn’t supposed to end like this:
“FIRST SPADE IN THE GROUND FOR MULTI-MILLION POUND ECO PARKS”
https://slrwealth.com/first-spade-in-the-ground-for-multi-million-pound-eco-parks/
“Best International secured the final funding to start work on the land
Best International successfully acquired all funding needed to commence works on Anglesey’s power station project.
Cheshire based wealth asset management specialists, Best International are delighted to confirm they have secured the £22 million funding required to launch the project.
It means work will begin later in the year creating thousands of jobs in both the construction stages and beyond – with the second phase of funding already secured via the £2 billion investment into the project….
…Best International are the Knutsford based wealth asset management specialists who have been assisting on the funding strategy to rejuvenate the Orthios Eco Parks for the past 18 months.
It was announced in October that Best International had secured a £2 billion investment into the projects. They will develop energy and food stations within the Eco Parks – but their investment would only be made once the initial funding had been secured.
Best International have now secured the £22 million required to begin Phase 1. The funds were raised via Best Corporate Bonds in just 18 months.
The project, to transform the disused industrial sites at Anglesey into a 299-megawatt combined heat and power station will create thousands of jobs between the two projects.
With the additional funding now secured, an announcement on when work will begin is expected over the coming months.
The funding is a huge boost for Best International, further enhancing their status as UK leaders in capital raising, funding and asset management strategies for SMEs….”.
Hmm.
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“Ministers urged to intervene to keep renewable energy jobs in UK after big contract for floating wind farms given to Middle East-based group
Dubai’s Lamprell has signed a deal to fabricate 200 turbines for the farms
GMB union has criticised the Government’s Energy Security Strategy”
https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-10746729/Ministers-urged-intervene-Shetland-windfarm-jobs-UK.html
“Ministers have been urged to intervene to keep renewable energy jobs in the UK after a big contract for floating wind farms was given to a Middle East-based group.
Dubai-based Lamprell signed an early stage deal this month to fabricate 200 turbines for the farms, to be installed west of Shetland.
But the GMB union said the deal meant the Government’s Energy Security Strategy had ‘fallen at the first hurdle’ as UK workers missed out on jobs on the multi-billion pound project.
Gary Smith, GMB general secretary, said: ‘It’s a national scandal that UK workers and communities are being forced to watch as multi-billion pound contracts for offshore wind farms are sent overseas to companies in authoritarian regimes.’
The union has written to politicians in Westminster and Holyrood calling for a joint review.
It wants emergency legislation to stop work going abroad.
Lamprell is listed in London but much of its work is focused in the Middle East.”
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Mark – how do find all these uplifting news stories ?
just when you thought things can’t get any worse/screwed up, along comes another.
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dfhunter – it isn’t difficult; they’re everywhere! We’re going to hell in a handcart, and not for the reasons that the Guardian and the BBC would have us believe.
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“Boris Johnson could cut up to 91,000 civil service jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-61432498
Today’s top news. In the small print:
There’s 70 of them thar green jobs for you. Obvious to me that we still need 70 staff working on something that finished half a year ago. Somewhere in a bunker under Whitehall, someone is still working on Operation “Tube Alloys.”
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COP26 was such a success that the 70 have literally worked themselves out of a job. Respect.
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Jit – you got me with the – Operation “Tube Alloys.” bit. thought you had lost the plot.
should have known better –
“The Tube Alloys programme in Britain and Canada was the first nuclear weapons project. Due to the high costs, and the fact that Britain was fighting a war within bombing range of its enemies, Tube Alloys was ultimately subsumed into the Manhattan Project by the Quebec Agreement with the United States, under which the two nations agreed to share nuclear weapons technology, and to refrain from using it against each other, or against other countries without mutual consent; but the United States did not provide complete details of the results of the Manhattan Project to the United Kingdom. The Soviet Union gained valuable information through its atomic spies, who had infiltrated both the British and American projects”
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An interesting headline and development:
“German chancellor accused of comparing climate activists to Nazis
Olaf Scholz didn’t elaborate on what he meant when saying ‘black-clad enactments’ reminded him of a bygone era.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/german-chancellor-scholz-accused-compare-climate-activist-nazis/
“Climate activists are accusing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz of comparing them to Nazis, something his spokesperson called “absurd.”
Scholz was interrupted by campaigners during a panel discussion at the German Catholic Convention on Friday as he mentioned the mining jobs lost in the country’s coal phaseout plans. Germany’s ruling coalition aims to end coal-fired power by 2030.
“I’ll be honest,” the chancellor responded, “these black-clad enactments at various events by always the same people remind me of a time that is, thank God, long gone.” Scholz then accused the activists of not wanting to engage in discussion but rather “manipulate” the event “for their own purposes.”
As he didn’t elaborate, many activists and other commentators interpreted Scholz’s words as a reference to the Nazi era and black SS uniforms when a clip of the interaction went viral over the weekend.”
Curious though that is, it’s not actually the reason I post it here. This is:
“More than 100,000 renewables jobs were lost since 2011 as Germany’s domestic solar industry declined, according to official data.”
It looks as though it isn’t just in the UK that all the promised green jobs have either failed to materialise or have disappeared.
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Whatever Olaf Scholz meant (and I tend to agree with the revolting activists on the meaning) it is striking that his Vice Chancellor, leader of the Greens, would never use the same terms. And Scholz is the one who has just talked to Putin, with Macron, and the three men agreed to continue contacts by phone – well, according to the Kremlin! As junior Tory MPs are reportedly near to the numbers needed for an attempted coup over here the German ruling coalition is hardly singing from the same hymn sheet from the very top.
Whatever way that goes, good on Scholz for saying it how it is on green jobs.
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So, the Germans have ruled out nuclear energy, are phasing out coal, and want to stick it to Vlad by not buying his oil and gas (so they claim).
Never mind: There will be plenty of energy available from all the unicorn droppings scattered among the windmills and solar panels.
German industry leaders are ecstatic about all this.
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Unfortunately, behind a paywall, but you can see enough to get the gist:
“Green jobs revolution concern as Scotland loses more than 27,000 manufacturing jobs during pandemic”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/20207342.green-jobs-revolution-concern-scotland-loses-27-000-manufacturing-jobs-pandemic/
“SCOTLAND has lost more than 27,000 manufacturing jobs during the pandemic, leading to fresh concerns about the green jobs revolution in Scotland.
New official estimates show that the manufacturing workforce has dropped from 210,200 in 2019 to 182,600 in 2021 – a fall of 13%.
Concerns have been raised by the GMB union which says that while the race to net zero is supposed to revolutionise manufacturing, ministers have “let the jobs disappear overseas”.
The Scottish government had promised to create 130,000 green jobs by 2020 and has come under fire by critics after only s fraction of the roles expected have materialised.
According to the latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) from February, the number of full-time equivalent jobs in Scotland’s “low-carbon and renewable economy” fell from 21,700 in 2019 to 20,500 in 2020, a drop from 23,200 in 2014…
…According to the same estimates there are just 4,800 full-time workers in offshore and onshore wind in Scotland out of 14,800 across the UK in 2020.
The GMB said there are now 200 more people serving rollercoasters and ghost trains in theme parks than wind turbines and said that shows how “badly managed our green revolution is.”
Last year it emerged that 35,000 UK jobs supported by the oil and gas industry have been lost in 2020 as Covid and volatile prices struck…
…Earlier there were concerns as a contract to manufacture and supply monopiles for the huge Moray West offshore wind farm went to China’s Dajin Heavy Industry…
…In March, Ocean Winds signed a capacity agreement with United Arab Emirates based Lamprell worth in excess of £150M, covering the supply of 62 transition pieces , including 60 wind turbine jackets and kit for the scheme’s two offshore substations…”
And much more in similar vein.
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For the sake of balance:
“Eco-airship contract to launch 1,800 jobs in South Yorkshire
Spanish carrier orders 10 helium-filled Airlander 10 aircraft in boost for UK green tech and maker HAV”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jun/15/eco-airship-contract-to-launch-1800-jobs-in-south-yorkshire
“About 1,800 jobs are to be created in South Yorkshire building 10 new environmentally friendly airships.
Hybrid Air Vehicles (HAV), a small Bedford-based company, announced on Wednesday it had signed a deal to provide a Spanish airline with 10 of its 100-passenger Airlander 10 helium-filled airships.
The aircraft, which the company says will have under a tenth of the CO2 footprint per passenger of jet planes, will be built at a new green aerospace manufacturing cluster in South Yorkshire.
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, said the commissioning of the Airlander showed that the UK was at the forefront of “revolutionary” greener aviation technology.”
We’ll see. I’m sceptical, but will be very happy to be proved wrong. Goodness knows, we could do with some good news regarding jobs and manufacturing.
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Well, it’s green until we stop extracting gas. Says wiki:
Airships are great I’m sure, as long as you plan to write a novel between taking off and landing.
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Jit,
That’s what happens when I try to be fair and balanced – I lean too far away from common sense. OK, they’re not “green” jobs, they aren’t even useful jobs, but at least they’re jobs, and for once the Spanish are paying, rather than it being a case of a Spanish wind farm company with a Scottish name taking UK subsidies. So it’s a start, I suppose…
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Will they report back on this a little way down the line to see the extent (if at all) to which the claims of green jobs turn out to be substantiated? Or will it be like all the other fanfares where, down the line, nothing happens?
“Floating wind farms at sea to create 29,000 jobs – Crown Estate”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62037754
“Plans to generate electricity through floating wind farms off the south Wales coast could create thousands of new jobs, according to the Crown Estate.
The property business owned by the monarch but run independently said the new industry could create about 29,000 jobs, including 10,000 in Wales.
It is leasing the space to generate enough power for four million homes.”
Lots of problems in the first three paragraphs. “Could” isn’t the same as “will”. “About 29,000” isn’t the same as “29,000”. “…enough power for four million homes” isn’t the same as powering 4 million homes reliably and non-intermittently. It’s another puff piece, in other words.
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“Teesworks wind turbine blade plant shelved”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-62101858
“Plans for a wind turbine blade plant on Teesside have been shelved after months of uncertainty.
General Electric Renewable Energy (GE) had aimed to open on the former steelworks site at Redcar to supply the Dogger Bank wind farm off the Yorkshire coast.
It was hoped it would create 750 jobs and another 1,500 in the supply chain.
Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said the site could still accommodate the firm if it changed its mind.
The news was reported by the Renewable Energy News website, which said GE was “not moving forward with plans for a Teesside facility”.
Uncertainty over the plant emerged late in 2021 when the firm confirmed there were delays to the sign-off of a deal.
It had lined up Teesside to make 350ft (107m) long blades.
Responding to the news, the Conservative mayor said it seemed GE “haven’t been successful enough to secure orders with potential clients, but we continue to stand ready to welcome them on site in the future”.
He added “2,250 well-paid, good quality jobs” were envisaged from a Teesside plant being run by South Korean firm SeAH, which would make monopiles, the steel tubes that are driven into the sea bed.
A Dogger Bank spokesman said it was disappointed GE was “not progressing” with its plans for the blade facility.”
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Blade Non-Starter.
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Talk about spin (pardon the pun). That BBC story about GE shelving plans for a wind turbine plant on Teesside has now miraculously turned into this:
“Teesworks £400m wind turbine factory work begins”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-62112667
It’s basically the same story, but with a positive spin on it. It still contains the hard facts, which are an uncomfortable truth (but this time buried deep in the article):
“But General Electric has said it will “not be moving forward” with its plans to make turbine blades there.”
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“Port Talbot: Tata steelworks could close without subsidy deal”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62262290
The green jobs don’t seem to have materialised, but net zero is threatening existing jobs:
“The owner of Port Talbot steelworks warned sites could be shut without subsidies for reducing carbon emissions, reports claim.
Tata Group wants to reach a deal for the UK government to provide £1.5bn towards this, the Financial Times says.
The UK’s biggest steelworks, in Port Talbot, employs 4,000 people.
The UK government said steel “plays a critical role” in the UK economy and Tata was “a valued steel producer and significant employer”.
Speaking to the FT, Tata Group chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran said: “A transition to a greener steel plant is the intention that we have . . . But this is only possible with financial help from the government.
We have been in discussions over the last two years and we should come to an agreement within 12 months. Without this, we will have to look at closures of sites.”
The report says Tata wants to close two blast furnaces at Port Talbot and build two electric arc furnaces, that will be less carbon intensive.
However, the FT adds this process will cost about £3bn, with Tata seeking £1.5bn from the UK government.
Responding to the news, Aberavon MP Stephen Kinnock said the steelworks in Port Talbot made the “best steel money can buy”….”.
Might not it be better to allow the coal mine in Cumbria to open and supply coking coal to British steelworks? Jobs all round, and a contribution to the nation’s finances instead of draining them.
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Andrew Montford makes a sobering point during an interesting thread kicked off by Ben Pile
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And here’s an update on the Tata Steel story:
“Talks continuing with Tata steel, Welsh secretary says”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-62306997
“The Welsh secretary says talks over a subsidy to help Tata Steel reduce its carbon emissions are continuing.
Sir Robert Buckland said people should be “a little cautious” about media reports that the company wants £1.5bn.
He added a decision on the matter should be made by the next prime minister.
On Friday the Financial Times reported that Tata would consider closing its sites if a deal is not done in the next 12 months.
Tata Group owns the UK’s biggest steelworks, in Port Talbot, which employs 4,000 people.
Its chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran told the FT a transition to a “greener steel plant” is “only possible with financial help from the government”.
“We have been in discussions over the last two years and we should come to an agreement within 12 months.
“Without this, we will have to look at closures of sites.”…”.
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“Port Talbot: Tata Steel faces crunch-time, professor warns”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62422873
“The UK’s largest steelworks is facing “crunch time” over reducing carbon emissions, a professor has warned.
There have been warnings the Port Talbot plant could be closed if a deal isn’t reached for subsidies to reduce carbon emissions.
Tata Steel said it was committed to cutting its impact on the environment and climate change.
Prof John Gibbins said the technology could cost up to £1bn and take years to implement, but would save jobs.
He told BBC Wales carbon capture and storage was the answer. But an economist said the technology would not be viable….”.
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“Climate change: Wales’ ports need upgrade for bigger wind farms”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-62492734
“There are fears Wales could lose out on jobs and investment from offshore wind because ports are not well equipped enough.
Wind farms being developed now have much bigger and heavier turbines, needing quays that can carry ten times the weight they do now.
Hundreds of jobs could be created by expansion, one port manager said.
The Welsh government said it was working with four operators to understand the specific requirements….
…Jim O’Toole, managing director of Port of Mostyn, in Flintshire, said these opportunities could be threatened because no port in north Wales was well enough equipped to handle the larger turbines being planned now.
His port has already built seven wind farms, the last being Gwynt y Môr, run by RWE, which has 160 turbines that are 150m (492ft) tall to the blade tip.
The company’s next project off north Wales, Awel y Môr, involves turbines that are 332m (1,090ft) high, and much heavier.
The massive turbines will be taken out to sea by boat and the quay, which the boats tie up to, will need to be able to cope with weights of 3,000 tonnes, compared with 300 tonnes now.
“The existing quays are no longer capable of doing those lifts, so we need to build a whole new quay capable of lifting 3,000 tonnes,” he said….”.
Not very green, is it? Poor Wales. Steel jobs destroyed. New jobs not replacing them. Land- and seascapes vandalised.
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This is becoming ridiculous:
“Final decision on west Cumbria coal mine delayed again”
https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/20619167.decision-west-cumbria-coal-mine-delayed/
“A decision on West Cumbria’s proposed new coal mine has been delayed again.
The Government has now set a deadline of November 8 to make a final decision on the controversial scheme, which would see coking coal extracted from beneath the Irish Sea off the coast of Whitehaven.
Greg Clark, who last month replaced Michael Gove as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, was due to make a decision next week….
…t is the third deadline that has been set for the decision to be made after a planning inquiry was held in September last year and a report was prepared by the planning inspector for the secretary of state to consider.
The original deadline of July 7 was pushed back to August 17 when Michael Gove was sensationally sacked by Boris Johnson on July 6 – before he had issued a decision. The Prime Minister then resigned the following day.
Mike Starkie, elected mayor of Copeland, said he was furious that there would be a further delay.
He said: “It’s outrageous. I’m absolutely furious.
“The civil servants have had nearly a year to complete the work. I find it difficult to believe that anyone could be that inept that they couldn’t get this resolved in the time….
…“This is a planning decision we shouldn’t have to wait for a Prime Minister to be elected. The planning inspector has made his recommendation and I’m going to write to the Government and say the very least they can do is make the planning report public.”…”.
But key stakeholders have received a letter from the Government this evening confirming a further delay.
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Politics, eh?
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https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/aug/13/uk-industrys-heavy-energy-users-fear-enforced-winter-shutdowns
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“NI offshore wind farms would boost jobs and cut emissions – report”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-62809978
And how disinterested is the report?
It responds well to strong political signals? As do fossil fuel companies. That might explain, in part at least, why gas supply is so constrained at a time of high demand. Never mind, one rule for unreliable renewables, and another for reliable fossil fuels.
And the report was commissioned by RenewableNI (“As a collaboration between Wind Energy Ireland (WEI) and RenewableUK (RUK), we also work closely with both trade bodies on issues impacting the renewable electricity industry across the UK and Ireland.”). And it was carried out by BVG Associates (“We’re dedicated to helping our clients succeed in a sustainable global electricity generation mix founded on renewables. We combine deep wind industry knowledge with skills gained in the world of business consulting.”).
Without dismissing the report entirely simply because of the nature of the people commissioning and carrying it out, is it not incumbent on the BBC to point out a little more clearly that this is not remotely a disinterested report? Instead the article is a puff piece in support of renewables in Northern Ireland.
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“The Great European Energy Disaster”
https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/the-great-european-energy-disaster/
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“The UK’s energy system is fattening state coffers – just not Britain’s
Frances O’Grady
The British public should enjoy the full benefit of the energy that is generated here, and help plan its future”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/sep/24/uk-energy-system-state-coffers-britain-british-public
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Mark O’Grady’s line there
“But unlike gold – or fossil fuels – no matter how much you take, it never runs out”
that doesn’t sound true to me.
Mostly wind will move around
sometimes it loses energy to noise. to friction
Likewise the sun creating heat gradients will put energy in.
However if mankind is taking energy out of that stock it is diminishing
It’s just the stock is absolutely mega
mankind is probably impacting the stock by a millionth of a percent or something.
but the normal argument is that mankind has changes the air by a 50 millionth re carbon dioxide
ie rise from 350ppm to 400ppm
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I have been considering this comment for some time in relevance to ”renewables jobs”. My family has been extremely lucky to have been in the right place at the right time, they are all working or worked for SSE . My wife worked in procurement and took on the Clyde and Greater Gabbard wind farm projects. My daughter started with working on radar interference from turbines and now works on a combined gas power station specifically carbon capture. My son works on environmental projects linked to off shore turbines and is now utilising some of the tech for Health and Safety control of lone working in remote sites like wind farms.The other side of the coin shows my brother’s family working again for SSE but in the non renewables side, civil works, corporate relations and transmission. Out of 6 only 2 actually started in new jobs created by renewables. I have seen a few reports on STV news interviewing students working for renewables projects, they seem to have a certain desperate hope they will get a full-time job out of it.
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JamesS,
Thank you for the interesting insight.
Whatever you do, don’t mention SSE (who are behind the Viking Energy wind farm) in Shetland – it probably won’t go down very well!
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“Shock therapy: turmoil engulfs Britishvolt’s £3.8bn battery factory
Future of company hailed by Boris Johnson as key to green industrial revolution hangs in the balance, as the first in our Electric Dreams series on Britain’s fledgling battery industry reveals”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/sep/29/britishvolt-38bn-battery-factory-green-industry
And much more in similar vein.
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“Another financing problem relates to Britishvolt’s other key asset: a promise of £100m in government funding. The then business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng revealed in July that the government had made a “final grant offer” – albeit one much lower than the £200m Britishvolt hoped for at the beginning of the talks.”
this is not funny anymore – we the taxpayer are paying for this scam.
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“India’s solar powered future clashes with local life”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62848096
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“Rees-Mogg in talks with UK steelmakers as fears grow for thousands of jobs
Business secretary liaises with Tata Steel and Jingye Group over Port Talbot and Scunthorpe sites”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/oct/17/rees-mogg-talks-uk-steelmakers-fears-grow-thousands-jobs-tata-jingye
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“UK battery firm staff agree to November pay cut”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63483666
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“Solar farm owner Toucan Energy enters administration amid Thurrock scandal
Authority lent total of £655m over four years to owner of 53 solar parks across Britain”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/11/solar-farm-owner-toucan-energy-enters-administration-amid-thurrock-scandal
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“UK wind farm staff swapped for foreign crew in Scots green revolution”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23130545.uk-wind-farm-staff-swapped-foreign-crew-scots-green-revolution/
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Sad news, especially at this time of year:
“Windhoist: Jobs lost as Irvine-based company enters administration”
https://www.irvinetimes.com/news/23193285.windhoist-jobs-lost-irvine-based-company-enters-administration/
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“Steel production halting due to rising energy costs”
https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/supply-chain/steel-production-halting-due-to-rising-energy-costs-16-12-2022/
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Never mind “where did all the green jobs go?”. In Scotland, under the SNP/Green coalition, it’s more a case of where did all the jobs go?
“New CalMac ferries for Western Isles to be built in Turkey”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-64081163
Interesting conclusion by the BBC’s Douglas Fraser:
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tell me it’s a joke “Turkey for Xmas”
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A dose of realism from one of the BBC’s more balanced journalists:
“Energy prospects blow hot and cold”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-64116488
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With precious little sign of green jobs, it should be blindingly obvious by now that net zero policies are costing exiting jobs:
“Liberty Steel plans to cut 440 jobs in UK and reduce production
Union condemns Gupta group ‘switch from substantial investment’ to idling plant and curbing output”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/12/liberty-steel-plans-to-cut-440-jobs-in-uk-and-reduce-production
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“Britishvolt: UK battery start-up collapses into administration”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64303149
Paul Homewood has a piece on it too:
https://notalotofpeopleknowthat.wordpress.com/2023/01/17/british-volt-collapses-into-administration/
And here’s Net Zero Watch’s take:
“Britishvolt’s collapse signals economic disaster for the UK’s Net Zero plans”
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“Government to offer £600m for green steel switch”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64366998
So, no new “green” jobs. Just the forlorn hope of saving some existing jobs from being lost thanks to net zero policies, at a cost to the taxpayer of £600 million (with no doubt more costs down the line). All to make money for a Chinese company. Good job!
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“Electric vans startup Arrival to cut 800 jobs amid focus on US market
British firm hopes to benefit from Joe Biden’s green energy subsidies and start production in north Carolina”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/jan/30/electric-vans-startup-arrival-to-cut-800-jobs-amid-focus-on-us-market
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Arrival – The company was valued at more than $15bn on the Nasdaq in New York at its height, but the shares slumped during 2022 and the firm is now worth $250m.
Arrival had cash on hand of $205m at the end of last year, it said.
On listing, the firm had said it planned to focus on vans and buses before potentially moving into smaller passenger vehicles, with a focus at first on taxis, but with the possibility of cars for consumers too.
Arrival was founded in west London in 2014 by Sverdlov, who sold telecoms firm and mobile phone maker Yota in 2013.
with link back – https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/24/founder-of-troubled-electric-van-maker-arrival-steps-aside-as-ceo
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And now this:
“British Steel considering cutting up to 1,200 jobs in Scunthorpe
Unions say move would be ‘betrayal’ amid talks with UK government over potential £300m in financial support”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/feb/01/british-steel-considering-cutting-jobs-scunthorpe
Yet more evidence that net zero destroys jobs.
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Sadly, here are the first of those job cuts:
“British Steel to cut jobs amid fears for industry”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64725229
British Steel is expected to announce on Wednesday the closure of its coking ovens in Scunthorpe with the loss of 300 jobs.
The timescale for the closure is unclear, as is how many compulsory redundancies it will involve.
Coking ovens are used to turn coal into coke which burns at the higher temperature needed for the two blast furnaces that remain in operation.
The closure means British Steel will import coke…
And still many middle-class people with comfortable jobs and/or decent incomes continue to campaign against a mine in Cumbria which will provide coking coal and jobs in a depressed area of high unemployment.
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Local expert opinion
update Its Apple Coke Ovens that are closing
“The Dawes Lane coke ovens is at the end of its life
So they rebuild a plant
or do something else like import.”
When I worked a summer there,we had difficulty with EU laws
so we bought nearby farmland
cos the fines are lower for polluting your own land.
Building a new plant with UK/EU pollution laws is difficult.
Update we just realised Dawes Lane closed 6 years ago
That means Appleby must have been renovated
Battery 4 reopened in August 2016
And it seems the other 3 were renovated before that.
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Your gas price might go up.
Why ?
Coke ovens byproduct is town gas, that is then used around the steel plant
Port Talbot plant says it is 81% self-sufficient for gas.
Scunthorpe will be similar.
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“Who killed the car industry?
The British state’s green diktats are making drivers’ lives a misery.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/02/24/who-killed-the-car-industry/
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Disgracefully inaccurate headline from the BBC:
“The students at the heart of the green jobs boom”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64865088
What green jobs boom? The report certainly doesn’t describe one. Lots of student courses doesn’t necessarily equate to jobs. Indeed, as the article says (if you read far enough):
40% of Vacancies? But how many vacancies are there? And “could now be described as” isn’t the same as “are”. The whole thing is a puff piece.
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Maybe I should post the following story and link under Cloud Cuckoo Land…
Then again, given the lack of “green” jobs to date, and the rapid destruction of other jobs, this seems as good a place as any/
“Climate change: UK risks losing investment in net-zero race, MPs warn”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65110764
It’s as though they all live in a parallel universe, far, far away.
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Meanwhile, back in the real world:
“North Sea oil and gas losing investments – report”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-65093274
So much for energy security.
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“Warning UK car industry under threat without help”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65123902
Perhaps if car manufacturers weren’t being forced to manufacture cars that most people don’t want, the industry wouldn’t be in such trouble.
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“Ministers halt ‘scandal’ of Scots wind farm foreign labour”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23456574.ministers-halt-scandal-scots-wind-farm-foreign-labour/
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“Gas output up off Aberdeen amid Dundee renewables jobs fears”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/business_hq/23475739.gas-output-off-aberdeen-amid-dundee-renewables-jobs-fears/
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“Offshore wind delivers one tenth of jobs promised by ministers”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23489568.offshore-wind-delivers-one-tenth-jobs-promised-ministers/
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3100. Pathetic. The distillery industry employs more than twice that number.
“Nine in ten distilling jobs in Britain are based in Scotland. Employment levels in the industry have been relatively stable, varying between 7,000 to 8,000 over the last eight years.”
https://digitalpublications.parliament.scot/ResearchBriefings/Report/2018/10/11/Brewing-and-distilling-in-Scotland—economic-facts-and-figures
I wonder, given the choice, what would Scots prefer: more whisky or more wind turbines?
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Back to magical thinking again.
The more people employed in wind power… the more expensive it is. Shall we have a “farm jobs revolution” too? It’s easy to achieve. We just need to ban tractors.
And yes, a more rational approach would be to send envoys to Japan inviting them to buy more single malt.
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We have Tullibardine Distillery in the village producing a single malt which is normally used for blending, not so well known for it’s own label. Until relatively recently the distillery employed probably 8 to 10 people the majority from the village including still op’s, management and customs and excise. There is now a bottling line and a more extensive visitors centre, now employing over 20 people, probably nearer 30 during busy spells. Not a lot, but for a not so well known brand compared to the Spey malts, pretty good. The comparison with green jobs, we can see 3 wind farms from the village, I don’t know of anybody in the village employed in a Green job associated with the building or running of these turbines. I have seen the odd pick up truck with trailer loaded with various engineering equipment heading into the hills but have not been able to read a company logo on the truck.
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It appears that the wind industry is trying to block the transition of oil & gas workers into the renewables game:
https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/wind/497890/skills-passport-wind-oil-energy-gwo-opito/
Key excerpt:
“The global offshore wind industry skills body has been accused of “putting in place roadblocks” to the creation of a jobs passport for oil workers to transfer into renewables.
Efforts have been underway for years to develop such a document, considered vital for allowing oil and gas workers to transfer into renewables without hefty retraining fees, which pose a major barrier to the transition.
But Global Wind Organisation (GWO) has been warned to “seriously reflect on its stance” by union bosses, lest government intervention is called for.
The group has been accused of trying to “push its own brand” and is “resist(ing)the idea of commonality of standards”.”
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Oh dear – now the TUC is part of the climate-alarmed establishment:
“UK lagging behind in global race to decarbonise, says TUC leader
Paul Nowak says workers need a seat at the table to ensure a quick and fair transition to a net zero economy”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/16/uk-lagging-behind-in-global-race-to-decarbonise-says-tuc-leader
Perhaps Mr Nowak should read my article above and ask himself where all the green jobs went, before condemning his members to the ranks of the unemployed. It’s one thing talking about “a just transition” to “net zero” – it’s a very different thing making it happen. And so far it isn’t happening.
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But Mark decarbonisation means that in theory there will be plenty of jobs in the UK. The problem is that we haven’t got nearly enough people with the skills necessary to do them. See THIS
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Nowak is a moron, but as usual in the case of these fanatical Green Reds, he is a dangerous moron. There is no ‘global race to decarbonise economies’: a few western countries are locked into a net zero death spiral to see who can be the first to completely destroy their economies.
Britain is not “limping towards a green future”; it is slouching towards Net Zero Bethlehem in order to be reborn – or should I say Reset, or ‘justly transitioned’.
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Still in Spain , have been watching a ‘green job’ most mornings while having coffee . There is a small solar farm (30 cells) just next to us and the green job man comes out every morning and cleans all the cells with a giant duster on a stick. They do look quite dusty before he does his bit. Wonder if he is a swimming pool cleaner as well ?
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“Where’s the money? Questions mount over Australian company hoping to revive Britishvolt
Missed staff payments and an Australian police investigation – Scale Facilitation’s electric vehicle battery-making ambitions face serious hurdles”
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jul/01/wheres-the-money-questions-over-australian-company-scale-facilitation-britishvolt
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“Firm behind 200-job battery factory in Dundee ‘on brink of collapse”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-66226332
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“Britishvolt buyer yet to make final payment in deal to rescue battery firm
Administrators say Recharge Industries is in default of sale agreement, which parent firm denies”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/aug/08/britishvolt-buyer-yet-to-make-final-payment-in-deal-to-rescue-battery-firm
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While Net Zero may not be creating many jobs, it is destroying both jobs and wealth:
“Employment and earnings hit by North Sea decline – report”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-66444574
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“Shortage of experts and low pay ‘major barriers to UK’s net zero future’
Lack of funding and staff limit climate sector’s impact on conservation and net zero efforts, say workers”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/aug/15/shortage-of-experts-and-low-pay-major-barriers-to-uks-net-zero-future
Even by the Guardian’s ever-diminishing standards, this strikes me as a poor effort. I am left with no understanding of the work these people do, who employs them, nor the scale of the supposed problem. It’s a small survey that seems to have generated limited responses. All it does is confirm that the promised new world of glorious green jobs doesn’t exist.
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“Biden’s climate bill leaves workers behind in shift to electric cars, union says
Legislation gives incentives to companies to manufacture EVs without protections for workers, says head of autoworkers union”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/15/biden-climate-bill-car-workers-union
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A letter in the Scottish Daily Herald:
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Mark – good on John Riddell for asking the obvious questions, wonder if he will get any response!!!
how do you find these gem letters/comments?
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Dfhunter, I couldn’t possibly say…;-)
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AAAH – big oil payroll, say no more guv
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“Tata Steel reportedly close to securing £500m funding from UK government
Package would required firm to commit to building electric arc furnaces to reduce carbon emissions”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/02/tata-steel-reportedly-close-to-securing-500m-aid-deal-from-uk-government
Brilliant! Spend £500M to destroy jobs.
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“UK solar could be ‘dumping ground’ for products of Chinese forced labour, ministers warned
Energy bill amendment requires large solar energy projects to prove supply chain free of slave labour”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/sep/03/uk-solar-could-be-dumping-ground-for-products-of-chinese-forced-labour-ministers-warned
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“China’s share of Europe’s electric car market accelerates as UK leads sales
Chinese-owned MG’s MG4 is Britain’s bestselling EV after Tesla’s Model Y in first seven months of year”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/04/china-europe-electric-car-market-uk-sales-mg-tesla
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“Offshore wind delivers one tenth of jobs promised by ministers”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23489568.offshore-wind-delivers-one-tenth-jobs-promised-ministers/
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“‘Half a billion pounds to make 3,000 unemployed’: Job cut fears from Port Talbot state aid deal – business live”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2023/sep/15/job-cut-fears-from-port-talbot-state-aid-deal-business-live
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Mark, if TATA switches to electric arc furnaces, it will be the final death knell of the British steel industry. The process uses absolutely huge amounts of electricity – which the Guardian describes as ‘carbon free’. We know that’s a lie for a start. Electricity in the UK is very expensive, due in no small measure to the proliferation of ‘sustainable’ wind and solar. It’s not going to be cheap any time soon, despite the promises of Green zealots. TATA steel is already a loss-making enterprise. They will not be able to profitably produce ‘zero carbon’ Green steel without incurring huge additional costs which will not be offset by the inevitable reduction in the workforce. They will have to greatly increase the price of their product or suck up more taxpayer funded subsidies. Then who is going to pay for this ‘climate friendly’ steel when much cheaper Asian imports are on the market? More Net Zero madness leading to the decimation of British jobs and industry.
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Is it what they call a “just transition”?
“Tata Steel: Thousands of job losses must be managed – Drakeford”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66807327
A Labour First Minister said that. He doesn’t condemn it. The world is going mad.
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“How China schooled the West on climate change
Brussels is launching a trade probe into Beijing’s EV subsidies. But China still leads the race to go green.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-west-climate-change-electric-car-battery/
A very dubious and inaccurate headline, IMO. China is capitalising on the west’s stupidity, but its reliance on coal and other fossil fuels hardly justifies the headline (assuming one equates landscape-trashing renewables with “going green”). Still, the article does contain quite a few home truths:
It’s odd than an article that recognises the damage caused to European industrial competitiveness by climate change policies urges Europe to go faster.
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“Germany mulls new energy price subsidy for industries
German leaders want to prevent an industrial exodus. But the idea is likely to spark controversy within the EU.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/germany-energy-price-subsidy-industry-competition/
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“Tata Steel to begin Port Talbot job cuts within months, say unions
Timeframe of large-scale redundancies discussed at meeting with bosses days after firm secured £500m state support package”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/sep/20/tata-steel-to-begin-port-talbot-job-cuts-within-months-say-unions
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Another very good piece from Douglas Fraser, surely one of the BBC’s best journalists:
“Jobs at stake in the energy transition”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-66781722
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Where did all the green jobs go? To foreign nationals, apparently:
“UK visa rules ‘pose significant risk to offshore wind industry'”
https://www.thenational.scot/news/23846334.uk-visa-rules-pose-significant-risk-offshore-wind-industry/
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The huge Dogger Bank wind farm has just had the first of its 277 turbines connected to the grid. Out of curiosity i took a look at the website and found the following list of “Tier 1” suppliers:
GE Renewable Energy – Design, supply, installation and commissioning of wind turbines including load out at Able Seaton (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Jan De Nul – Transportation of wind turbines from Able Seaton and installation of turbines (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Sif and Smulders – Fabrication and supply of monopile foundations and transition pieces (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Seaway7 – Installation of monopile foundations (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Saipem – Transport and installation of the offshore platforms and jacket foundations for Dogger Bank A & B.
Heerema – Transport and installation of the offshore platform and the jacket foundation for Dogger Bank C.
DEME (Belgium) – Design, supply and installation of inter-array cables (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
NKT (Sweden)– Supply and installation of HVDC and HVAC export cables (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Aibel (Norway)– Design and supply of offshore platforms and jacket foundations (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
Hitachi Energy – Design and supply of electrical HVDC system equipment within the offshore platforms and the equipment to be installed at onshore convertor stations and commissioning of electrical transmission systems (Dogger Bank A, B & C).
North Star Renewables – Design and delivery of service vessel fleet.
Looks like almost all of the quality jobs went overseas.
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Mikehig, thanks – sums it up in a nutshell.
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“Scottish Water admits solar farms could use parts linked to China’s forced labour camps
Company has installed tens of thousands of solar panels – at 66 sites – which it now suspects are linked to slave labour”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/oct/18/scottish-water-admits-solar-farms-could-use-parts-linked-to-chinas-forced-labour-camps
Of course China is able to make solar panels cheaply because, as well as using Uighur slave labour, it also uses cheap electricity generated by coal-powered energy stations.
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It’s strange; I can’t find this story anywhere on the BBC website…:
“Shell cuts 200 jobs, contracting the hydrogen division
The hydrogen wing of the oil and gas giant is to shrink as the company moves away from work on powering hydrogen cars.”
https://news.sky.com/story/shell-cuts-200-jobs-contracting-the-hydrogen-division-12992387
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Mark – love some quotes from that article.
“Carbon capture storage and nature-based solutions also form the department but will be unaffected, and renewable power will also not be hit.”
“Also shelved were any renewable-electricity capacity targets. Instead, it aims to invest more than six times as much on fossil fuels as it will on clean power.”
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“British Steel set to cut up to 2,000 jobs in furnace closure plan”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67332093
We are being played for fools.
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Crocodile tears from the Guardian, given that this is what it has campaigned – and continues to campaign – for. However, it’s interesting to see it laying out the very many down-sides (albeit without apparently being very bothered by them):
“Iron resolve: steel town unites to fight for its furnaces
As Scunthorpe faces 2,000 job losses in a move to greener tech, MPs and unions fear for workers and a strategic UK industry”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/12/iron-resolve-steel-town-unites-to-fight-for-its-furnaces
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“British steelmaking won’t survive Net Zero
The transition to eco-friendly steel is already threatening thousands of livelihoods.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2023/11/14/british-steelmaking-wont-survive-net-zero/
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The depressingly bad and very stupid developments about UK steelmaking just keep coming:
“Large parts of Port Talbot steelworks could be shut under Tata Steel cuts plan
Unions say move could force Tata’s automative steel factory at Llanwern to close, costing 600 jobs”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/16/port-talbot-steelworks-tata-steel-cuts-llanwern
Funny how events close to home can focus the mind. I’ll bet he’s still in favour of net zero as a concept, though.
So now, no doubt, the emissions associated with steel-making will (like so many other GHG emissions) be exported to China, from whom we’ll probably end up buying steel when we need it. Meanwhile, our unemployment rate in depressed areas goes up again. Brilliant strategy, politicians.
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It’s staring us in the face: China is colonising Western nations and our treacherous politicians are actively engaged in enabling this process of building dependence on China, India and other countries by expanding their economies at the expense of decimating our own.
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A fundamental stumbling block on the road to electrify everything is that we do not have any zero-carbon electricity to spare. All such power is always fully-allocated as it has priority onto the grid, second only to nuclear.
So any measures which add to electricity demand will simply increase the gas burn and, possibly, imports over the interconnectors.
This situation is not going to improve any time soon as all but one of our nukes will be shut down over the next 5 years. Further, the hiatus in offshore wind, combined with the transmission capacity issues means there is little prospect of getting anywhere near the projected expansion, leaving aside the intermittency issues.
This is preaching to the choir here but how can we get this brought to the prominence it deserves?
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If anyone has access to the FT, this article could be interesting:
“‘We need tangible benefit’: Does investment in UK renewables create jobs?
Locals in north-east Scotland say the billions poured into wind power have bypassed the community.”
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By the excellent Douglas Fraser, a BBC journalist for whom I have considerable respect:
“Cracking crude: blame game over Grangemouth’s symbolic loss”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-67500411
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Aspects of the Guardian report on the Grangemouth story are almost surreal:
“Grangemouth oil refinery to shut down, raising concern for 500 jobs
Plans by Petroineos to convert facility to an import terminal spark questions for Scottish economy and UK refining capacity”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/nov/22/grangemouth-oil-refinery-to-shut-down-raising-concern-for-500-jobs
I’m not sure my opinion of politicians can fall any lower.
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As always, the news reports are superficial.
If memory serves, Grangmouth is the terminus for oil and gas pipelines from the North Sea. What will happen to that production? Can it be shipped elsewhere or will this lead to the premature closure of production facilities, further weakening energy security?
Then there’s the products that will no longer be made there. Presumably they will have to be imported. While fuels are the obvious concern, the refinery also produces a range of materials which are part of other companies’ supply chains (from memory again).
No doubt we will learn more in due course from specialist websites and journals but some competent, diligent journalism upfront would have covered these issues.
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Mark – this partial comment from Fraser made me think he’s not got a clue what’s being lost – “But at the risk of sounding unsympathetic, the people who run the refinery at Grangemouth are skilled, and those skills are transferable.
There is keen competition for similar industrial skills in other parts of the energy sector, and a lot more demand for skills can be expected. A “green freeport” is being created around the Firth of Forth.”
ps – Mikehig comment above nails it.
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Yes, Douglas Fraser isn’t perfect, and he probably has to toe the party (BBC) line. Still, he’s one of the best they’ve got, IMO.
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“Tata Steel to close furnaces, with 3,000 jobs expected to go this year
Play video 3,000 Jobs At Risk From Tata Steel Closure Plans”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-wales-68023528
This appalling damage isn’t just occurring in the UK. From Germany comes the ultimate irony:
“Germany’s last solar panel producer prepares to close shop”
https://www.euractiv.com/section/energy-environment/news/germanys-last-solar-panel-producer-prepares-to-close-shop/
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The sad thing is, the steel will be made elsewhere, using coal. No net savings of CO2. And there is an irony in that the problems of integrating solar power have led to electricity in Germany being too expensive to compete with Chinese manufacturers (not the only reason, as we know).
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No Jobs lost, no CO2 emissions saved – all that happens is they will be outsourced to China. Net result – the British economy suffers at the expense of China and the UK loses its ability to manufacture its own steel, which is a serious national security risk.
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“Tata steel: What do plans mean for UK’s carbon footprint”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68017180
The BBC zeroes in on the most important question. However, the attached article is not as terrible as you might guess. In fact they cite someone from FoE who wants to keep one of the blast furnaces open longer…
And there are these sentences:
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“The transition to net zero is going to start feeling like a cost and a burden and something that’s putting their jobs at risk – rather than a positive vision of a green future”.
Well, I suppose it’s something that the BBC printed that. On the other hand, it’s not simply that “[t]he transition to net zero is going to start feeling like a cost and a burden and something that’s putting their jobs at risk – rather than a positive vision of a green future” – it is a cost and a burden and something that’s putting jobs at risk – and most definitely not a positive vision of a green future. I deeply regret that, but I hope that reality is beginning to dawn everywhere, and that the penny drops in time to put a stop to the madness before it causes irreparable harm.
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Jit,
If you burrow down towards the end of the article, regarding the impact of the steel works closure on the UK’s CO2 emissions, after claims of a reduction of up to 20% of Wales’ total, you eventually get to this:
The whole thing is expensive and damaging nonsense on stilts.
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Nils Pratley in the Guardian on the Port Talbot steel closure:
https://www.theguardian.com/business/nils-pratley-on-finance/2024/jan/19/tata-port-talbot-decision-goes-beyond-wales-steel-energy-sector
Worth a read, IMO. Net zero enthusiast politicians should read it too.
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Finally (I think – for now, anyway), on the steel job losses:
“Port Talbot and the human cost of Net Zero”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/01/19/port-talbot-and-the-human-cost-of-net-zero/
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Mark, as is so often the case with commentators these days, Pratley aborts his thoughts one conclusion short. That is because the need for decarbonisation is paramount; he cannot question the underlying dogma. The existence of a blast furnace is not compatible with the Net Zero project. Pointing to the need for virgin steel does not alter the fact that the drips running this country have made it impossible for us to produce it here.
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“Net Zero is killing British industry
Port Talbot steelworks is just the latest casualty of our elites’ climate-change crusade.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/01/23/net-zero-is-killing-british-industry/
“…our elites’ willingness to embrace deindustrialisation, their eagerness to sacrifice jobs and vital industries, is not a fifth-column plot. It is born of their pursuit of the chimerical goal of Net Zero. That’s why our politicians and industry leaders are shutting down our virgin-steel making capacity, and crippling our oil and gas industry. It’s because they genuinely believe that they are leading Britain in an existential battle against a climate apocalypse.
After all, if one believes that the world is about to end unless CO2 emissions are slashed, then one need not be too concerned about putting jobs, or the security of the British nation, at risk. It doesn’t seem to matter that more than 40 per cent of the electricity on which electric-arc furnaces in Britain will rely is today still generated by gas-fired power stations. It doesn’t seem to matter that the steel imported from China or India will still be made by coal-fired power stations. What is important for our elites is to do something, and to be seen to be doing something about the climate.
For our corporate executives, parliamentarians and civil servants, Net Zero is the goal that trumps all else. It’s time we fought back against their dangerous, irrational designs.”
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I just wonder if the demise of Tata Steel’s blast furnaces is really anything to do with reducing CO2 emissions. More likely is the company’s latching onto this excuse to support their wish to reduce steel production in the U.K. There have been many previous suggestions that Tata Steel has wished to transfer its production elsewhere. This is only the latest version, now supported by the GW (= Green Woke).
What surprises me is the timing. Currently there are numerous stories that the Navy is under-shipped. Any new warships will require masses of new steel and recycled steel from fewer electric blast furnaces won’t cut it. What is Tata’s game plan?
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Alan,
I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Tata can’t believe their luck regarding the gullibility and stupidity of UK politicians.
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Rather than being in need of new ships, they need new staff for their existing ships.
https://www.forces.net/services/navy/military-bleeding-out-workforce-issues-trump-uk-militarys-other-issues
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“Does the renewable boom feel real to you?”
https://robinmcalpine.org/does-the-renewable-boom-feel-real-to-you/
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“Offshore wind jobs target missed by 90 per cent as SNP ministers urged to make green jobs overhaul
EXCLUSIVE: Think tank Future Economy Scotland warns the country could fail to create enough green jobs to offset the decline of the North Sea industry.”
https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/offshore-wind-jobs-target-missed-32012847
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“UK electric vehicle maker Arrival enters administration with 170 jobs at risk
New York-listed company, once valued at $15bn, failed to launch its debut electric van”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/05/van-risk
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“Fall in wind sector demand hits Highland jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9786p4qd83o
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Mark – thanks for the stream of comments & links above showing the stark reality re “Green Jobs”.
I liked the https://robinmcalpine.org/does-the-renewable-boom-feel-real-to-you/ article.
Well worth a read, He ends with this –
“Unfortunately the corporate renewable energy industry wants you to think all is going well so it maintains its generous treatment from government (bloody ScotWind), the Scottish Government desperately wants any evidence that its renewables strategy is working brilliantly and the Fraser of Allander want to produce a report which is 100 per cent justifiable but keeps their client happy.
And every part of this is done at a desk in front of a spreadsheet. What no-one is doing is actually going out and mapping properly where the renewable energy jobs are and what the quality of those jobs actually is. If Scotland is ever to escape its serial failures over renewables, that’s the number we need, not an assumption built on an assumption built on an assumption built on a commercial relationship.”
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“What Green Jobs?”
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/02/13/what-green-jobs/
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Mark, regarding the quote from The Spectator and Gary Smith of the GMB, “… much of the green work seemed to be either London-based lobbying or clearing away the animal casualties of wind farm blades. “It’s usually a man in a rowing boat, sweeping up the dead birds,” he observed….”
That there are jobs in lobbying I can understand. But are there really people employed to remove the body parts of birds killed by wind turbines? If so then it ought to be more publicized; the animal loving British public would not, I suspect, be impressed by such a horrible job … nor by the even more horrible fact that the job exists in the first place! …
So I take this opportunity to invite our readers to JIT’s wonderful article
(https://cliscep.com/2023/02/18/the-rspb-is-betraying-its-members/) and particularly the following paragraph:-
QUOTE
It’s very simple for the RSPB, or it should be. If the question is “Wind farm?” the answer is “No. Nowhere, never, not while we still draw breath, not while we live to prevent harm to the beautiful and amazing feathered animals we share this planet with.” The RSPB should hate wind farms like Ahab hated the white whale. They should fight them on sea and land, everywhere. There are no excuses, no exceptions and no grey areas. There are no right places to site wind farms. The wrong place is the sky. No amount of carbon dioxide “savings” from wind power can outweigh the direct losses from the birds it kills.
END QUOTE.
Regards, John.
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Thanks for that reminder of Jit’s searing prose John. And
is a nightmare 2024 corollary of Frédéric Bastiat, who developed the economic concept of opportunity cost and introduced the parable of the broken window in 1850.
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John,
I think the statement about men in boats clearing up dead birds is tongue in cheek, but it is a searing judgement, so I included it in the section I quoted.
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The guy in the boat, like the hombre in Spain we saw wiping down the solar panels then cleaning the pool !
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This prolly belongs under the year-old Jit post that John Cullen linked to above, but…
Here’s a 2013 Graun article by someone who was then the RSPB’s Head of Climate Change Policy & Campaigns:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/blog/2013/jun/28/white-throated-needletail-wind-turbines
An Asian swift whose species hardly ever visits the UK* had been killed by a wind turbine. The RSPB bloke (who is now a SpAd to Scotland’s First Minister) said that this death must not be used as an argument against wind power because other things kill far more birds. In support of this whataboutery, he cited a debunked paper** by someone who thought that bats were birds.
===
*This was perhaps only its fifth recorded visit.
**https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0301421509001074
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“Tata Steel workers protest over proposed job losses”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-68325457
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“‘Broken promises’: Scots green revolution jobs slump as income soars”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24173490.broken-promises-scots-green-revolution-jobs-slump-income-soars/
“Scotland has seen the number of green revolution jobs slump as energy company income rocketed by 47% in a year.
Offshore wind jobs have dropped to produce around a tenth of what was forecast by ministers as it aimed to make the country the green energy capital of Europe.
The latest official estimates show that jobs in the low carbon and renewable energy sector have dropped by 13% in the year from 29,700 to 25,700 – while turnover has soared by 47% from £8.853bn to £12.992bn.
And Scottish jobs in offshore wind fell from 3200 in 2021 to 3100 in 2022 – as concerns grew about the scandal of cheap foreign labour replacing British workers to serve Scotland’s green revolution.
The Scottish Trades Union Congress has condemned what it called the “broken promises” of the Scottish Government’s green jobs revolution.
Over ten years ago the Scottish Government were championing the desire to be the green energy capital of Europe with around 28,000 jobs in offshore wind alone.
The Herald on Sunday revealed how British based workers planned a mutiny as protests erupted over cheap foreign labour replacing them.
It was made aware of UK-based staff having contracts terminated following the extension of the Offshore Wind Workers Concession (OWWC) rules which allows the employment of cheaper foreign nationals on offshore wind projects…
…Analysis carried out by the Office for National Statistics shows that turnover, the total income generated by offshore wind companies, had risen by £1.673bn (66%) in a year to £4.206bn for offshore wind and £1.812bn (82%) to £4.009bn for onshore. But the number of jobs fell by 3% for offshore and by 400 (11%) for onshore…
…
There has been concern that governments in China and the United Arab Emirates, which have presided over human rights concerns, are among the beneficiaries of Scotland’s green revolution.
The array of state government-controlled firms that are making millions from having a key stake in Scotland’s collection of offshore wind farms also include France, Norway, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland. The Scottish Government has no stake in any company reaping the green rewards, even though it is in the nation’s waters that the farms are being constructed….”
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Thank you Fraser Myers – deftly done:
“Labour: the party of deindustrialisation
The Port Talbot job losses are just a taste of the green-fuelled misery to come.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/03/30/labour-the-party-of-deindustrialisation/
Conclusion:
“Labour’s zealous commitment to the Net Zero agenda puts it directly at odds with the interests of the British working classes. Its rush to ‘decarbonise’ energy and industry will deal a hammer blow to heavy industries and the communities they sustain. Labour has made itself the party of deindustrialisation.“
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“What happened to the green jobs revolution?”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/24232499.happened-green-jobs-revolution/
“New figures published by the Office of National Statistics reveal that the estimated number of jobs created in the low carbon and renewable sectors in Scotland contracted over the last year.
Overall, low carbon and renewable energy employment was estimated to stand at 25,700 in 2022 which is substantially down from the 29,700 estimated jobs in 2021. The jobs total in 2022 stands barely above the 2014 figure of 23,200.
In the offshore wind sector, 3,100 jobs were estimated for Scotland in 2022, down from 3,200 jobs in 2021, while 3,100 jobs were estimated for the onshore wind sector – again down from 3,500 over the same period. The total for the onshore wind sector is shamefully only 400 more than 2014.
The ONS figures are in stark contrast with the SNP-led Scottish Government in 2010 promising 28,000 direct jobs in the offshore wind sector alone by 2020, and a further 20,000 jobs in related industries.
Unite would even question how many of these 6,200 jobs in the onshore and offshore wind sectors are based in construction, engineering, maintenance and manufacturing roles, rather than office based roles stemming from the headquarters of major energy firms. Indeed, the ONS confirmed to us that they don’t hold this type of information….”
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“Scots oil industry sheds 1000s more jobs than gained by renewables”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24313134.anger-scots-oil-industry-sheds-1000s-jobs-gained/
Scotland’s oil and gas industry is estimated to have lost tens of thousands of jobs more jobs than has been gained from renewables in the nation’s green revolution over a decade leading to grave disquiet over how the nation’s energy economy is being handled, the Herald on Sunday can reveal.
The oil and gas industry in Scotland has shed nearly 40% of its jobs amounting to 50,000 in Scotland over a decade, according to industry figures – while the number gained from low carbon enterprises has risen by just 2,500.
Unfortunately the rest is behind a paywall, but there’s enough there to get the gist.
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From the Energy Voice website:
“New research has warned that the next UK government will have just 100 days to restore confidence to the North Sea energy sector and save 100,000 jobs. According to the Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce’s (AGCC’s) 39th Energy Transition report, optimism has been falling at companies working on the UK continental shelf.
In addition, there has been a sharp decline in work across production, exploration and renewables as investors await the outcome of the General Election. Businesses cited government policy as the most important factor influencing the level of business activity, continuing a trend from previous reports. The AGCC warned that the declining confidence means companies could exit the UKCS under the tax regime being proposed by the Labour Party.
The body cited independent analysis from a leading investment bank which concluded that 100,000 of the 200,000 jobs currently supported by the UK North Sea oil and gas sector will be lost by 2029, with investment of up to £30 billion at risk.
Failure to do so will result in the current apathy, which is evident throughout this report, turning to open revolt, where companies move their resources on to countries which offer a less hostile business environment and better returns. Privately, industry leaders are being very clear that this will be the outcome of an extended windfall tax with scaled back allowances. Should this transpire, our path to net zero could look more like a road to nowhere. A road that leaves the UK poorer, less energy secure, and beholden to foreign regimes for the energy we need to keep the lights on and our economy running.”
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MikeH – thanks for the comment & link. after a bit of digging found the report – ET39-Report.pdf (agcc.co.uk)
A long read & you already provided the most pertinent quotes/thoughts.
From point 24 – headed – Similarly high levels of scepticism when looking at which political parties are giving business the confidence to invest in new energy technologies with two thirds
stating ‘none of them’
can’t give a pic for some reason, they asked the companies –
“Q: Why do you say that and what additional interventions do you believe would make a positive difference?“
“A separate energy body must be created to take away fluctuations in policy which are aligned with culture wars.”
“End to EPL sooner would be helpful for industry”
“Government should provide a long term and fixed strategy to net zero. The uncertainties should be cleared.” “Political point scoring is getting in the way of facing up to the reality of the situation we are in, and we are consistently missing opportunities to develop and excel. We need a government who be transparent with the British people and be very clear about the importance of oil & gas in the energy mix then establish fair and reasonable taxation to all a just transition”
“None of the main political parties seem to understand the challenges and funding requirements to deliver the energy transition and provide energy security. All the parties focus on the supply side of the industry in terms of apportioning responsibility for emissions and take no responsibility for demand led emissions because they know that involves difficult choices for voters.”
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dfh: thanks for digging that up but I’m happy to skip reading it! I have an indirect contact to the CEO of one of the small N Sea companies. That feedback very much confirms what the article reported. Those companies are fed up with getting kicked around the park for providing essential supplies that would otherwise have to be imported. Many are very close to jacking it in. If that happens, the loss will be permanent. A stampede for the door could develop as everyone is very aware that the first to leave will have the best prospects of finding other jobs.
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One more cutting quote from the “Chamber viewpoint” section at the end –
“And Unions have perhaps been the most vociferous,
with Unite saying Labour will throw workers on the
“scrapheap” with its “irresponsible” oil and gas policies.
Contrary to current public perception, these people are
not climate denying oil fat cats wearing Stetsons and
driving muscle cars. No, they are welders, scaffolders,
electricians, engineers, project managers – blue collar
workers whose livelihoods are at risk if policy is out of
step with reality.
This is now a big moment for policymakers of all colours
but particularly Labour as the next UK Government in
waiting. It will reveal who it is they are listening to. Is
it the grafters of the North Sea with dirt under their
fingernails, or wine bar socialists with orange paint under
theirs? We will soon find out.”
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From Power News:
“Siemens Gamesa plans to cut about 4,100 jobs from its wind turbine division as the company continues to restructure its business.
The downsizing, reported May 28 by Reuters, impacts about 15% of the company’s workforce. The news service said the layoffs were noted in an internal letter to staff from CEO Jochen Eickholt. The cuts were expected after the company reported a €4.6 billion ($4.9 billion) loss in 2023, triggered by the suspension of sales for two wind turbine models. The group reported a €365 million ($395 million) loss for the second quarter of this year.”
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“Siemens Sinks: Germany’s Top Wind Turbine Maker Sacks 4,100 Workers Overnight”
https://stopthesethings.com/2024/06/17/siemens-sinks-germanys-top-wind-turbine-maker-sacks-4100-workers-overnight/
Remember how the wind and solar industries would create hundreds of thousands of highly-paid groovy ‘green’ jobs? No? Well, as it turns out, the few (highly subsidised) jobs created are disappearing like the sun over the horizon. Although, for the axed workers, there will be no reappearance the following day. Easy come, easy go.
Siemens Gamesa is a case in point. Orders have dried up; costs of producing anything in Germany are prohibitive – it suffers Europe’s highest power prices, thanks to Germany’s efforts to run on nothing but sunshine and breezes (and exorbitantly priced gas). Germany’s largest wind turbine manufacturer has been struggling for years to turn a profit.
Siemens suffer a €5.8 billion ($6.3 billion) market value write-down in a single day in June last year, followed by another 40% write-down in October – slashing a further €3 billion ($3.16 billion) off its market value, following revelations by Siemens that it was demanding billions in government-backed guarantees from the German government.
12 months on, and Siemens is still on the ropes, sacking 4,100 workers in one fell swoop, as this lament from Reuters explains….
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“Sir Keir Starmer pledges to save hundreds of jobs at Scotland’s last oil refinery
PM says talks would start ‘immediately’ on a rescue plan for closure-threatened Grangemouth plant as he targets ending SNP’s Holyrood reign”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/07/starmer-pledge-jobs-grangemouth-oil-refinery-scotland/
Behind a pay-wall unfortunately. Isn’t it extraordinary that our new PM is concerned about job losses in an industry that he is determined to kill? Are the scales already falling from his eyes? Or would cynics be correct? Grangemouth is owned by Ineos, led by Jim Ratcliffe, who came out in support of Labour shortly before the election took place. Coincidence? I make no claims, but let’s say it isn’t a good look. I feel about this rather as I did when – at a time when I was a keen Labour supporter – Tony Blair’s new government in 1997 decided to exclude Formula 1 from the ban on tobacco advertising in sport that was just then being introduced by his own government:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2008/oct/12/tonyblair-labour
Blair intervened over F1 tobacco ban exemption, documents show
Tony Blair personally intervened to secure an exemption for formula one from a tobacco advertising ban just hours after meeting the sport’s boss, Bernie Ecclestone, according to Whitehall documents.
Previously secret papers, obtained by the Sunday Telegraph, show that the former prime minister personally intervened in pushing for the exemption hours after meeting the formula one boss Bernie Ecclestone.
The incident, in the first few months of Blair’s premiership, became known as New Labour‘s first sleaze scandal.
The government has always maintained that Blair’s meeting did not influence the final decision over the exemption, even though Ecclestone was a major donor to the Labour party.
At the time, Blair denied any personal involvement in the issue, appearing on the BBC’s On the Record programme to insist he was a “pretty straight kind of guy”.
But briefing notes prepared by officials – obtained by the Sunday Telegraph under freedom of information laws – raise questions about his account.
They reportedly show that he instructed his chief of staff, Jonathan Powell, to signal his support for an exemption after meeting Ecclestone on October 16 1997.
The following day, Downing Street wrote to Tessa Jowell, then the public health minister, stating: “The prime minister would like your ministers to look for ways of finding a permanent derogation for sport, in particular F1.”
On October 24, Jowell wrote to Blair setting out possible options including an exemption as well as a suggestion for a longer phasing-in period for the ban.However, five days later, she received a letter insisting: “His (the prime minister’s) view remains that we should seek to negotiate a permanent exemption for Formula One, backed up by a voluntary agreement with the FIA.“
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There are precious few “green” jobs in the UK, and now it appears that some of the workers in the area don’t feel they’re the well-paid jobs they are usually claimed to be, after all:
“Wind turbine workers balloted for strike action”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0dml0y72vjo
About 300 workers at a wind turbine factory in Hull are being balloted for strike action in a row over pay, the Unite union has said.
According to Unite, staff at Siemens Gamesa are considering walking out over a pay offer of 4.5% plus incentives, which the union says amounts to a real-terms pay cut.
The ballot will close on 24 July and the union warned a strike would cause “significant disruption” to production....
...The union claims their pay has fallen in real terms since 2018 due to below-inflation increases and a performance-related bonus scheme….
...Sharon Graham, Unite’s general secretary, said: “Siemens is a colossally profitable company, yet wages at its Hull factory have fallen in real terms year on year.
“The company is using the bonus scheme to suppress wages and the workforce have had enough.
“Unite does not accept attacks on our members’ jobs, pay and conditions,” she added. “Siemens’ Hull workers have their union’s total backing.”…
...If strike action does take place, the union said it would cause disrupt the construction of blades for the East Anglia 3 and Moray West offshore windfarms.
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“Grangemouth workers rally to save oil refinery jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cgl7lxzepvdo
…Refinery owners Petroineos have set out plans to cease operations at Grangemouth by 2025, putting 400 jobs at risk with more job losses in the wider supply chain….
…Grangemouth is one of six refineries in the UK and the only one in Scotland.
It is the oldest refinery in the UK. It opened in the 1920s, expanded into petrochemicals in the 1950s, and is in need of an expensive overhaul.
It accounts for about 14% of the UK’s overall refining capacity and supplies almost two-thirds (65%) of demand for refined oil products in Scotland.
While the petrochemical plant is wholly owned by Ineos, the refinery is owned by Petroineos – a joint venture between Ineos and PetroChina.
It is currently the primary supplier of aviation fuel for Scotland’s main airports, and a major supplier of petrol and diesel ground fuels across the central belt.
Petroineos announced its intention to shut down the refinery in November...
…A company spokesman said: “In the medium term we forecast dramatically reduced demand for key fuels we produce. We are seeing this in the market today as a result of more efficient engines and transport electrification initiatives.
“This will accelerate following the ban on new build petrol and diesel cars coming into effect in 2030 in Scotland.”
Petroineos plans to transform the refinery into an import terminal for fuel from other countries..…
Thus do our net zero-obsessed politicians create a jobs desert, while reducing our energy security and making us more dependent on foreigners.
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Header for an article (paywalled) on Energy Voice:
“EPL changes mean ‘companies like Serica won’t invest’ says chairman. Serica Energy’s chairman has argued that changes to the EPL will lead to firms like his not investing in the UK and job losses.”
I expect there to be a chorus of such comments in the coming months.
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“£13.5m to help firms hit by Tata steel job losses”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c624rz52v4yo
The first money from a £100m fund to help workers and firms affected by restructuring plans at Tata’s Port Talbot steel plant is being released, UK ministers will announce on Thursday.
Tata closed one of its two blast furnaces on the site last month and plans to shut the second in September, as it moves to greener production and cuts thousands of jobs.
Welsh Secretary Jo Stevens will confirm that £13.5m from the fund will be made available.
UK ministers are in separate negotiations to try to save jobs at the steel giant, which is planning to lose 2,800 posts….
...The minister will also announce that more than 50 businesses have signed a pledge to support any workers forced to leave their jobs in the steelworks.
The previous Conservative government pledged £500m to Tata towards the cost of a new £1.25bn electric arc furnace, which will melt scrap steel, and requires far fewer workers than traditional blast furnaces.
Construction of the new furnace is scheduled to begin in August 2025….
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Is there no end
to the dead hand
of govuh-mint
inertia-tive?
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“Heat pumps could bring the German economy to its knees
Governments keep making the same mistake, of backing ‘winners’ long before they’ve proven themselves in the market”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/15/heat-pumps-could-bring-the-german-economy-to-its-knees/
…There should be plenty of money to be made from heat pumps, especially in a country such as Germany where the Greens are part of the coalition government, and where a relatively new, well-insulated housing stock makes them more than a match for older gas or oil boilers. And yet, it has turned out to be far from easy. According to the German business paper Handelsblatt Stiebel Eltron, one of the country’s largest pump manufacturers has this week been forced to announce job losses. The reason? Sales have been weaker than it expected. Despite generous subsidies for homeowners, and €18.6 million from the state to support production, the pumps are falling flat, with only 90,000 sold in the first half of this year against an official target for 2024 of 500,000.
The trouble is, that is far from an isolated example. Shares in the German battery manufacturer Varta are down by over 80 per cent so far this year, and there are warnings that the company may not survive after making heavy losses on energy storage unit for hybrid sports cars.The Belgium chemical group Umicore announced a €1.6 billion hit last month as slowing sales of EVs hit its battery material business, and it decided to postpone plans for a battery recycling plant. Siemens Energy has announced big losses on its unit that makes the giant wind turbines that were to be built across the countryside and along every coastline. And of course, all the major European auto manufacturers have had to scale back their plans for electric vehicles as sales disappoint, and high-quality, cheap Chinese models take whatever few orders there are.
The list goes on and on. The companies that poured billions into building the industrial infrastructure for the transition to Net Zero are running into trouble one by one.
It is not hard to work out what has gone so badly wrong. Governments have tried to pick winners, backing new technologies before they have proven themselves in the marketplace, and then doubling down on that up with quotas and subsidies even in the face of consumer indifference. Even worse, they have thrown their support behind the wrong businesses, rewarding companies that tick all the right climate change boxes, rather than waiting to see which ones can make the best product at the lowest possible cost. Industrial strategy, as so often in the past, has been a recipe for disaster.
Right, now we are seeing the entirely predictable consequences of that. Money is being wasted on an epic scale, right across the continent. No one should be in the least surprised if many of the green projects the British government has backed turn out to be hopelessly uneconomic as well, yet our energy secretary Ed Miliband, and the climate change fanatics who put constant pressure on the Government to reach Net Zero harder and faster, are intent on pouring even more money into what will inevitably be an even larger series of white elephants. In reality, the “well paid green jobs” are disappearing fast, replaced with poorly paid “green redundancies”. Governments will be left with a huge bill for a costly series of mistakes – and the unfortunate workers who thought they were being offered a lucrative career will have to find something else to do very quickly.
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That’s a true Thatcherite writing, I thought. And lo it is: one of her junior ministers, Peter Lilley, now Lord Lilley, also famous for the being the one constituency MP who responded sensibly to Robin Guenier’s emails!
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“Plan to hike windfall tax sparks energy jobs warning”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje2ynege5zo
Firms across the UK’s oil and gas supply chain have expressed “grave concern” about government plans to hike windfall taxes and eliminate investment incentives to an industry that supports 200,000 jobs.
In an open letter to HM Treasury, seen by the BBC, 42 companies have warned that official plans threaten £200bn of investment in all forms of domestic energy, including renewables.
The signatories include manufacturing, engineering and technology companies….
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“How £270m wind turbine hub plans and 600 jobs would be lost under Harland & Wolff collapse”
https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/harland-wolf-renewables-gmb-4751760
Plans to transform two shipyards into wind turbine manufacturing hubs could be at risk of being axed, union bosses have warned.
Union bosses have raised fears a £270 million vision to transform two Scottish industrial sites into wind turbine manufacturing hubs could be lost, putting a promise of 600 green jobs at risk.
A total of £16 billion of investment, promised for Scotland through manufacturing turbines for 20 ScotWind projects, could be lost overseas due to a lack of facilities and infrastructure to build and put together the equipment.
Scotland does not have a single facility capable of manufacturing wind turbine blades and there are only two across the UK....
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“Thousands of British Steel jobs could go by Christmas, union warns
GMB fears closure of Scunthorpe blast furnaces may be brought forward and urges consultation with employees”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/aug/23/thousands-british-steel-jobs-christmas-union-scunthorpe
Thousands of workers could be laid off before Christmas amid concerns that British Steel is preparing to bring forward plans to close its blast furnaces in Scunthorpe, according to a trade union.
The furnaces could be closed before Christmas resulting in 2,500 job losses which could devastate the local community in North Lincolnshire, the GMB union said. However, the Chinese-owned company insisted that no decision has yet been made.
British Steel and its owner, Jingye, are already in discussions with the UK government over a deal for £600m in taxpayer support to aid a move to less-polluting technology.
The GMB trade union urged British Steel and the UK government to engage with employees immediately amid concerns about the early closure of the furnaces.
British Steel has previously said it would build an electric arc furnace (EAF) as part of its decarbonisation plans, replacing the carbon-intensive blast furnaces at the Scunthorpe site. The move will further reshape the UK steel industry amid uncertainty over the future of the vast Port Talbot steelworks in south Wales...
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“Hiking energy tax will hit growth, oil industry says”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx287xq91e5o
Raising the windfall tax on the UK’s oil and gas companies will hit the government’s main goal of growing the economy, the industry has warned.
Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) said the planned hike would cause investment in the sector to plunge and result in a loss of £13bn to the UK economy from 2025 to 2029, putting 35,000 jobs at risk.
Its analysis follows previous concerns from firms over the Labour government’s plan to increase the windfall tax on profits made by energy companies.
A Treasury spokesperson said the government was committed to a “constructive dialogue” with the industry over changes to the tax.
Under government plans,, external the Energy Profits Levy – which is the official name of the windfall tax – is due to rise from 35% to 38% on 1 November on the profits oil and gas firms make in the UK.
Companies operating in the North Sea are already taxed differently to others. They pay 30% corporation tax on profits as well as a supplementary 10% rate.
It means from November, the total tax rate on profits made by energy firms in the UK is expected to rise to 78%.
The government has also announced it wants to extend the length of the levy until 2030, and that it will “tighten” investment allowances, which have allowed firms to reduce the amount of tax paid if they invest in projects, such as green energy, in the North Sea….
I would like to think that in the absence of the true believers’ determination to “save the planet” we could all agree that by crippling investment in North Sea oil and gas and destroying 35,000 well-paid jobs, the government is making a crass and damaging error. If there was no “need” to “save the planet”, surely we would all agree that these policies are bonkers? From there, it’s only a small step to accept that since destroying investment and jobs in the North Sea won’t make the slightest difference to the climate, given what’s going on the rest of the world, this policy is, ipso facto, bonkers. Why can’t the people in power see that?
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Behind a paywall , unfortunately:
“Mitsubishi to cut 400 jobs at Livingston heat pump factory”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24562807.mitsubishi-cut-400-jobs-livingston-heat-pump-factory/
More than 400 jobs at the Mitsubishi Electric factory in Livingston are at risk.
The plant in Livingston, West Lothian, is the largest heat pump manufacturer in the UK.…
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The BBC has the story now too (if you dig down deep enough):
“More than 440 Mitsubishi staff facing redundancy”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyn7ppg1j0o
The firm confirmed 443 jobs were at risk and blamed “widespread downturn in demand” for its products from the site.
That’s the truth – no demand for its products. With good reason, people don’t want them. Meanwhile, through the looking-glass:
Livingston MP Gregor Poynton said he was “deeply concerned”.
He said it was “short-term economic pressures” that had seen its order book “fall away”.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Mr Poynton said: “These are a highly skilled workforce creating world-leading products, air source heat pumps and air conditioning units, which are absolutely vital as we look to decarbonise our economy in the future.
“However, through no fault of their own, due to short-term economic pressures, they’ve seen their order book fall away.“
He called on the Scotland Secretary Ian Murray to meet him, management and workers to see “whatever the UK government could do to support us.”
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Livingston is just up the road from my hometown Broxburn.
So they make “world-leading products, air source heat pumps and air conditioning units” says Mr Poynton. Wonder who buys “air conditioning units” In tropical Scotland?
I can hear potential Scot customer “Nay thanks, we’ll just open the windas”
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It’s not just the UK, it’s Germany too:
“An ‘earthquake’ at Volkswagen – and a crisis for Germany?”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/article/2024/sep/07/an-earthquake-at-volkswagen-and-a-crisis-for-germany
…Some blame the government for the company’s predicament, saying it has pushed a green agenda which has led to a slump in domestic car sales and a rise in energy prices, and that it has failed to deliver on promises to slashing bureaucracy, as well as removing an incentive to buy electric cars by abruptly halting a subsidy programme at the end of last year….
…the reality is that in Europe 2.5m fewer cars are being produced now than five years ago. The market for electric cars slumped by 69% in August compared with a year earlier, believed to be as a result of waning consumer confidence, and every fifth electric vehicle sold in Europe is produced in China. An affordable entry-level VW electric car, which is in the pipeline and due to go on sale next year, is being produced not in Germany but on the Iberian peninsula….
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“‘Grim’ September ahead with 6,000 steel and oil jobs to go”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3rd512v77qo
The government is warning of a “grim” September with up to 6,000 jobs set to be cut across the steel and oil refining industries, the BBC understands.
A total of 2,800 jobs are set to go at Port Talbot in Wales, while up to 3,000 jobs are expected to be axed at British Steel in Scunthorpe. A further 400 will be cut at Scotland’s Grangemouth oil refinery.
Unions’ hopes that investment from a new Labour government could help limit job losses have largely been dashed, according to sources.
The government said it was facing “tough decisions” but added: “The solution isn’t writing a blank cheque to bail out the past, or to put taxpayers on the hook for the industrial challenges we’ve inherited.”
Labour’s manifesto promised a kitty of £2.5bn to revitalise the UK steel industry.
But the new government has taken a similar line to its predecessor by insisting that public money is only available to invest in new greener steel production facilities, rather than to subsidise large ongoing losses at carbon-intensive plants....
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London: 12 September 2024Unions count the cost of green deindustrialisation
Net Zero Watch has welcomed robust comments by GMB Union leader, Gary Smith, who has warned that Net Zero policies are “hollowing out working class communities”.
The remarks came as Tata Steel announced 2,500 job losses through the closure of two of the last remaining blast furnaces, meaning the UK will be the first major industrialised economy without the ability to produce virgin steel – potentially critical for defence and other high-grade industrial uses. Instead, new electric arc furnaces are supposed produce recycled steel, albeit supporting far fewer jobs and producing a more limited range of steel grades.
Gary Smith told the BBC:
The Unite Union also voiced their concerns about the impact of Ed Miliband’s Net Zero policies, in particular in the North Sea, where many high paying working class jobs depend on the Oil and Gas sector. Their leader Sharon Graham said:
These remarks are the most high-profile critical statements that major unions have ever made concerning the impact of Net Zero. Net Zero Watch director Andrew Montford said:
And Mr Montford warned that ever-rising electricity prices are likely to make the new steel plants uncompetitive:
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“Scotland’s only oil refinery confirmed to close next year”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvg3gwkkk4mo
Scotland’s only oil refinery is to close by the summer of next year, with the loss of 400 jobs…
…First Minister John Swinney said he was “deeply disappointed” at the news…..
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“160 jobs at risk at Larbert based Alexander Dennis bus firm”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24581786.160-jobs-risk-larbert-based-alexander-dennis-bus-firm/
Around 160 jobs are at risk at a Falkirk-based bus manufacturer due to an “uneven playing field” in the industry sector.
Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis broke the news this afternoon, saying a consultation process had been launched due to the government zero-emission bus funding ‘Disproportionately benefitting” competitors with lower labour costs.…
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“Boiler maker Worcester Bosch considering job cuts”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c80e0n0xx1lo
Leading boiler maker Worcester Bosch has said it is considering making redundancies as it looks to cope with financial difficulties.
The manufacturer said on Friday it was carrying out a reorganisation across the business, which currently employs about 1,700 staff.
The company blamed a drop in sales, as well as factors including the cost of living, a drop in house building, and a move towards electrification….
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“ONS Reveals the Pitiful Number of New Green Jobs Being Created in the U.K. Economy”
https://dailysceptic.org/2024/09/30/ons-reveals-the-pitiful-number-of-new-green-jobs-being-created-in-the-u-k-economy/
The problem with the green U.K. economy, and its associated destruction of the hydrocarbon environment, is that there are very few jobs being created. The few remaining ‘workers’ in the ruling Labour party are starting to rumble all the luxury boondoggles that are set to further decimate well-paid jobs in their communities. The figures compiled by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), trying to estimate the actual number of green jobs, are always a highly creative hoot, and the latest batch are no exception. Many jobs identified are simply displacement activity, with one repair or maintenance occupation taking over from another. Around 6% of the total are to be found in ‘environmental charities’, an interesting way to describe elite billionaire political funding to push the Net Zero fantasy. Such is the seeming desperation to rustle up a green job, the ONS even includes repairing home appliances, controlling forest fires and separating hydrogen by carbon dioxide-producing electrolysis.
The latest ‘estimates’ from the ONS cover 2021 and 2022, and they are said to show an increase in both years. But as the graph below reveals, the rises are pitiful over a decade, and the 2022 estimate of 639,000 is less than 2% of jobs in the economy as a whole.As can be seen, environmental charities employ 40,000 people, almost as many as the 47,000 that work in renewable energy. But the charities figure does not include all those make-work jobs in environmental consultancy and education or what is described as in-house environmental activities. If all the displacement, invented or re-badged jobs in repair, electric vehicles, waste disposal, water treatment, energy efficiency, Net Zero promotion, teaching and the ubiquitous bureaucracy are rightly ignored, it is unlikely that more than 150,000 new jobs have been created. Fairly small pickings, it might be thought, from all the cash sprayed at subsidy-hunting chancers over at least two decades. Even worse, any new jobs are easily offset by the occupations being destroyed in steel making, refining hydrocarbons, coal mining and oil and gas exploration. Fracking for gas would transform a number of deprived areas in the U.K. at little environmental cost, as it has done in the U.S. Energy security would likely be achieved, and the tax take would be considerable. But fracking is anathema to the major political parties in the U.K., except the emerging Reform party.
Last week saw some real push back on the madness of Net Zero and the so-called green economy. The boss of GMB, the third largest trade union in the country, told the annual Labour party conference that its plans to decarbonise the energy network by 2030 will cost up to one million jobs, decimate working communities and push up bills for the poorest. According to Smith, Government’s plans for Net Zero were “bonkers” and “fundamentally dishonest”. In a week when it was revealed that British consumers, both industrial and private, had some of the highest electricity prices in the developed world, he charged that current energy policy amounted to virtue signalling by politicians. He accused them of exporting jobs and importing virtue because the jobs were being created abroad rather than in the U.K.
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Apologies Mark: missed this and posted a link to that Daily Sceptic article elsewhere.
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Another take on the ONS data:
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Rachel thinks she has the solution. Hmmm, we’ll see:
“Today, with our £22bn pledge for carbon capture, Labour’s green revolution for Britain begins
Revitalising the country’s industrial heartlands and creating decent, well-paid jobs is at the heart of our mission”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/04/carbon-capture-labour-green-revolution-britain-industry-jobs
…I am determined to deliver that change. But I know it can only happen if we bring investment back to Britain. Investment that can reignite Britain’s industrial heartlands to create good jobs in the industries of the future – like wind power and solar. And this includes carbon capture and storage. That’s why today we have announced up to £21.7bn of funding over 25 years to launch this major new industry for our country in a new era for clean-energy investment and jobs.
This gamechanging technology will bring 4,000 good jobs and billions of private investment into Teesside and Merseyside – and support 50,000 jobs in the long term, while powering up the rest of the country. Not only does this represent a major success story for British industry, it also means jobs in the supply chain, such as pipe welders, mechanical engineers, site managers and surveyors.
And it means these opportunities are spread across the UK. In the past, whole industries were allowed to decline or disappear. Whole communities were thrown on the scrapheap with no alternative employment on offer. Instead, there was a narrow focus on a few cities and a few successful industries. That’s no way to manage an economy. That’s why this government is doing things differently. That’s the change we are offering….
No mention of all the lost jobs, the jobs denied (west Cumbrian coal mining) and all the support jobs in those industries too. No real understanding of how the economy works, so far as I can see. Productive jobs that generate wealth are much more important than non-productive ones that simply add to the cost of vital things like energy, thereby undermining the productive capacity of the economy.
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“The tragic death of Britain’s industrial working class
The closure of our last coal-fired power plant is an ominous sign of the deindustrialisation to come.”
https://www.spiked-online.com/2024/10/07/the-tragic-death-of-britains-industrial-working-class/
…The deindustrialisation of Britain has killed not only jobs, but also the sense of community and culture they created.
Those affected by industrial decline know all too well that their jobs will not be miraculously replaced by green alternatives. They know their local economies. They understand perfectly well what happens when families have their incomes halved and their children and grandchildren face a future of low pay, no pay, insecurity and hopelessness. They know that politicians’ vague words of ‘future industries’ and plentiful jobs are lies.
Instead, these areas will become ripe for exploitative logistics companies to move in. On top of the old Shirebrook Colliery in Derbyshire now sits a huge Sports Direct warehouse complex. These mega-warehouses flank either side of the M1 in the old industrial heartlands, with their lorries charging up and down the roads. The jobs on offer by Sports Direct – a company infamous for its poor employment practices – are neither highly skilled nor well paid. They are not remotely environmentally friendly, either. Even this low level of work will likely disappear soon as technology replaces the warehouse worker.…
…The London-based media classes glibly refer to places like Port Talbot and Ratcliffe-on-Soar as ‘left behind’. But their decline is no accident. To say so is an insult to the harsh reality and cruelty these communities have endured for two generations. Britain’s working classes have been all too willingly sacrificed.
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More on the Grangemouth closure from Energy Voice (not paywalled but I do have a free account):
https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/refining/561276/labour-talks-up-grangemouth-skills-package-but-union-slams-smoke-and-mirrors/
It quotes some weapons-grade blathering from Milliband and a sidekick but the unions are not buying it:
“But the influential Unite Union said the focus on skills and retraining amounted to “smoke and mirrors”.Unite said the UK and Scottish governments should prioritise saving jobs at risk, pointing to a plan to transform Grangemouth into a biofuels facility.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the Grangemouth job losses are happening “on this government’s watch”.“The government should be focused on preserving the current jobs rather than making a smoke and mirrors announcement around training for jobs that don’t exist,” Graham said.“If the UK and Scottish governments cannot get their act together to save 400 jobs at Grangemouth, workers in Scotland will have no faith that government can secure a just transition for thousands of other Scottish workers.
“Unite will not stand by and allow a jobless transition and the creation of yet another working class wasteland. Not to save Grangemouth is a dereliction of duty.”
Graham highlighted reports the UK government is planning to change fiscal rules for investment, and said the extra funds “should be used in Grangemouth”.“This is a strategic location vital to the success of the Scottish economy,” Graham said.
“The government should stop dancing around its handbag and commit to a public stake to secure the long-term future for Grangemouth.”
Unite Scottish secretary Derek Thomson also criticised the focus on skills training. “Providing re-training, when well-paid skilled jobs don’t exist is wrong,” Thomson said.
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Forgot to add that no-one mentioned the underlying reason for the closure. The refinery is on its last legs. Its the oldest in the UK, costs too much to keep running and is no longer competitive with much newer plants elsewhere. Strange it wasn’t used as an excuse.
Separately Ineos have warned that the Forties pipeline which brings oil to Grangemouth may close early (can’t remember if they gave a date). That pipeline carries oil from about 80 fields.
This is beginning to look like a house of cards, ready to collapse – or whatever that game is where you try to remove a piece without bringing down the rest.
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Mike,
I think it’s Jenga (sp?). Good analogy.
The government’s insane energy policy may yet collapse suddenly and without warning.
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“They’re killing us’: Aberdeen braces for end to North Sea oil as clean energy plan takes shape
The granite city has weathered many storms over the years but people there now fear the impact of the government’s tax plans on the local economy and jobs”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/19/theyre-killing-us-aberdeen-braces-for-end-to-north-sea-oil-as-clean-energy-plan-takes-shape
…”They’re killing us,” says Darren, 50, an oil rig worker for the past 22 years. He declines to give his full name for fear of losing his job with a major oil company. “This government is going to do to the North Sea what Margaret Thatcher did to the mines. We all know it: this is the end for the UK oil industry. We just don’t know when.”…
…“Imagine losing your job, losing the roof over your kids’ heads, and all to save carbon emissions that are a drop in the ocean compared to China’s? The best I can hope for is to hang on and perhaps in four years this government will be voted out,” he says….
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I see things are still going well in Germany (sarc):
“Volkswagen to shut three factories, axe jobs and cut pay by 10%, says union
German carmaker warns of stagnation in the European sector amid news of deeper-than-expected action”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/28/volkswagen-shut-three-factories-cut-thousands-jobs-union
The German carmaker Volkswagen is planning to shut at least three factories in its home country, lay off thousands of workers and cut pay by 10%, according to the company’s union.
The deeper-than-expected cuts come as the company faces weak sales and slow expansion in the electric vehicle (EV) sector amid tough competition from Chinese manufacturers....
...As Europe’s top economy suffers a crisis in manufacturing and fears of mass unemployment, VW is aiming for a fundamental restructuring to cut costs. It had initially warned last month that it had the equivalent of two factories of extra capacity in Germany.
Redundancies are expected across the workforce, amounting to tens of thousands of jobs and whole divisions closed or sent overseas. Real-terms pay cuts could amount to as much as 18% after a two-year pay freeze, the works council said. “All German VW plants are affected by these plans,” Cavallo said. “None is safe.”…
…At the same time, incumbent carmakers such as Volkswagen are having to come up with major investments needed to switch production from petrol and diesel to battery electric, while facing Chinese rivals who enjoy lower costs. Some factories had already been switched over, but slowing growth in demand for EVs has made companies less keen to make the job-saving investments.…
…The company said the automobile market in Europe, of which its share amounts to about a quarter, had shrunk by 2 million vehicles since 2020 while costs for energy, personnel and raw materials had grown. The sector was “stagnating and will not recover in the foreseeable future”, it said….
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Paul Homewood destroys mad Ed’s promise of a million more green jobs by 2030 here: https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/the-climate-scaremongers-a-million-more-green-jobs-pull-the-other-one-mr-miliband/.
His conclusion:
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Buried deep in the BBC website – no danger of this attracting a front-page headline – but I found it:
“Oil firm blames windfall tax for North Sea pull-out”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx27p91kpzdo
A US oil firm has said it will end all its operations in the North Sea by the end of 2029, blaming the impact of the windfall tax.
Apache said recent confirmation in the Budget that the windfall tax on oil and gas firm profits would rise and be extended to 2030 had made production uneconomic.
The Texas-based firm took control of the Forties field, east of Fraserburgh, in 2003 but suspended all new drilling activity last year.
The UK government said it wanted to make the UK a “clean energy superpower” and it was asking the oil and gas sector to contribute more to that transition….
...Initially set at 25% and due to expire in 2025, the Conservatives later raised it to 35% and said it would last until March 2029.
In the recent Budget, Labour raised the levy to 38% – meaning the total tax rate on the companies is now 78% – and extended it by a further year.
An Apache spokesperson said: “The onerous financial impact of the EPL, combined with the substantial investment that will be necessary to comply with regulatory requirements, makes production of hydrocarbons beyond 2029 uneconomic.
“Looking forward, our focus will be on maintaining asset safety and integrity as we prepare for the responsible decommissioning of our assets.”
Industry body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) has previously said that raising the windfall tax would reduce investment in the oil and gas sector, putting thousands of jobs at risk….
…
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No doubt some ECO/Greens will cheer at this, maybe even some workers who may be redeployed to a better country/more conducive & unsticks & leave UK (if they can).
But for the UK workers that can’t move (family etc) they will have to rely on the “Green Job” promise.
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“Workers affected by Port Talbot closures to get up to £10,000 to start businesses
Exclusive: Welsh secretary to announce £80m funding to help 2,800 Tata steelworkers and local economy”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/nov/15/workers-affected-by-port-talbot-closures-to-get-up-to-10000-to-start-businesses
Who in their right mind would set up a new business in what is soon to become an area of high unemployment? And who would take on new employees in such an environment after the recent rises in employers’ NI payments and the substantial reduction in the threshold at which such payments kick in?
“To the cafe owner in the town centre who is worried about footfall. To the steelworker with a dream of being their own boss. To the business looking to grow or change. This fund is for you. This is change in action.”
Labour insiders believe this new funding allocation will put a safety net around workers and businesses immediately, and essentially provides evidence that Labour’s growth and clean energy missions are still in action as they are also laying the groundwork to deliver floating offshore wind.
Yeah, right. This is the reality:
…The steel town in south Wales has been hit by devastating job losses and the regional economy is at risk as a result of the closures. The closure of blast furnace 5 in July cut at least 2,000 jobs, with thousands more jobs lost in the community, which is reliant on the steelworks.…
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“Labour is facing a civil war over net zero
Louise Haigh and Jonathan Reynolds are bound to butt heads over the green transition”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/11/18/labour-is-facing-a-civil-war-over-net-zero/
At a crunch meeting later this week, the car-makers will tell the Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and the Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds that thousands of jobs in the industry will soon be lost because of the unrealistic targets to sell Electric Vehicles.…
Haigh and Reynolds may well be sympathetic. The trouble is, trying telling the party’s leading Green Commissar Ed Miliband that the target has to be relaxed. High on his own apocalyptic rhetoric, Miliband will no doubt refuse. After all, what do a few car factory jobs count for when the very survival of the planet is at stake? And, anyway, any workers made redundant can simply switch to one of the hundreds of thousands of ‘well-paid green jobs’ the transition to a carbon-free economy will create. Haigh will be sent packing.
The looming battle over EV quotas will just be a foretaste of what is to come. The Net Zero obsession is going to throw a lot of people out of work over the next few years. We have already seen that with the closure of the Port Talbot steel works in Wales, and now we are seeing it with the potential shuttering of car factories as well.
With some of the highest prices for electricity in the world, and more than double the United States, we will see a lot more traditional heavy industry close down very soon. That will get even worse when the new round of carbon border taxes come into force, driving up the price of imported raw materials. … The trade unions are already getting anxious about the impact on their members, and rightly so. It is going to be a bloodbath.
The real dividing line in this contest will be a very old one. It will pit Labour’s traditional, working class and trade union base, which is more concerned about jobs and wages, against the middle-class, sandal-wearing, ideological wing of the party, which is more concerned with saving the planet.
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“GB Energy chairman predicts 200 to 300 Aberdeen jobs as he outlines plans
It comes just weeks after chairman Jurgen Maier claimed GB Energy could bring more than 1,000 jobs to the city.”
https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/business/local/6633524/gb-energy-chair-predicts-200-to-300-aberdeen-jobs-as-he-outlines-plans/
The chairman of GB Energy said he expects it will create up to 300 Aberdeen jobs – despite previously saying the number of jobs could exceed 1,000.
Jurgen Maier had previously said the state-owned energy company “may eventually” create up to 1,000 jobs at its new headquarters in Aberdeen.
However, just weeks later, he has now estimated between 200-300 roles in the city.
Mr Maier was speaking to the House of Commons energy security and net zero select committee and confirmed the numbers while adding a workforce plan had not yet been created….
…Kevin Stewart, Aberdeen Central MSP, said: “Losing 800 jobs in six weeks is impressive, even for this Labour government. It is yet another betrayal of the people of Aberdeen.
“Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the iceberg, as their disastrous approach to our North Sea energy sector is already seeing major players leave the field, at a cost of tens of thousands of jobs.
“The reality is GB Energy will never replace all the jobs and expertise we’re on track to lose in the north-east.”…
…The UK Government said the 200-300 figure relates to the number of jobs expected to be creating over the next five years. The ambition to eventually reach 1,000 jobs is a more longer term ambition.
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What a joke. So 60 jobs at tops per year “expected” over 5yrs & an ambition thereafter.
And they are for the working people!!!
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“Ministers considering renationalising British Steel
Exclusive: Move would be last-ditch attempt to save thousands of UK jobs amid standoff with company’s Chinese owners”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/dec/03/ministers-considering-renationalising-british-steel
Ministers are considering renationalising British Steel in a last-ditch attempt to save thousands of jobs, amid a standoff between the government and the company’s Chinese owners over a £1bn investment.
Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, is locked in talks with British Steel and its owner, Jingye, to agree how much each party should put into a rescue plan for its main Scunthorpe site.…
...One Whitehall official said: “It is one of several options being looked at. We would have been negligent not to look at it.
“But it is the least attractive option. We would be talking about substantial sums of money to buy not very much.”…
...British Steel’s plant at Scunthorpe employs about 4,000 people and is the only place left in the UK that still makes steel from iron ore, after the Indian company Tata closed its blast furnaces at Port Talbot in south Wales. It makes steel for everything from railways to heavy machinery to warships, putting it at the centre of the government’s infrastructure and national security plans.
Keir Starmer said before the election: “For far too long, our steel industry has been left behind at while our European allies forge ahead. We must turn this around. We must make Britain a world leader again.”...
...Instead, talks are now focused on building one remaining electric furnace at Scunthorpe. Replacing the site’s two blast furnaces, which were responsible for about 0.8% of all UK carbon emissions in 2023, would help the UK meet its target to reach net zero by 2050.
Building an electric furnace at Scunthorpe is likely to cost around £1bn, according to those close to the talks, of which the company had been expected to contribute about half, as Tata did at Port Talbot.
However, officials have become increasingly concerned during those negotiations that Jingye is not willing to stump up the investment needed, leaving the government potentially on the hook for the full amount.
If Reynolds is unable to agree a deal with the Chinese company, it leaves the government with two main options: allowing the company to fall into administration in the hope of finding another buyer or taking over part of all of its operations directly….
...Nationalisation would present several complications however, especially if the government planned to keep blast furnaces running while building electric arc furnaces.
If Jingye were to walk away and the furnaces are left to cool down in an uncontrolled manner, they could become unusable. A controlled shutdown could cost tens of millions of pounds….?
Is this government determined to destroy everything?
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“Vestas turbine factory staff at risk of redundancy”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c70ewlzny40o
Staff at the Vestas wind turbine factory on the Isle of Wight have been told they are at risk of redundancy.
The 600-strong workforce at the Newport site have been warned up to half could lose their jobs as demand for the blades they make comes to an end.
Vestas said, after a deal with the UK government to manufacture onshore blades, it planned to repurpose the site and offer jobs to 300 staff.
A consultation has started and the outcome will be announced in January 2025.
The factory, which currently manufactures offshore turbine blades, opened in 2002 but modern blades are about 50% larger than the ones produced in Newport and the site cannot be adapted.
Vestas said it had reached an agreement in principle with the UK government to produce blades for the UK’s onshore wind farms which would allow it to repurpose the factory and save around half the jobs…..
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“Volkswagen agrees deal to avoid German plant closures”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje9kv3q94po
Volkswagen has reached a deal with the IG Metall trade union which will avert plant closures in Germany and avoid immediate compulsory redundancies.
The two sides have, however, agreed to cut more than 35,000 jobs across the country in a “socially responsible manner” by 2030, in order to save some €15bn (£12.4bn).
Germany’s largest carmaker had previously warned it might have to shutter plants in the country for the first time in a bid to cut costs….
There is no counter-factual world where the EU didn’t impose EV mandates and Germany didn’t go through the energiewende, but I think it’s a reasonable bet that the German car industry would be in much better shape than it is absent those two factors.
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“Sweden’s green industry hopes hit by Northvolt woes”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crrwqpdv5q7o
...Swedish start-up Northvolt opened its flagship production plant here in 2022, after signing multi-billion euro contracts with carmakers including BMV, Volkswagen and Nordic truck manufacturer Scania.
But it ran into major financial troubles last year, reporting debts of $5.8bn (£4.6bn) in November, and filing for bankruptcy in the US, where it had been hoping to expand its operations.
Since September it’s laid off around a quarter of its global workforce including more than 1,000 staff in Skellefteå….
…Many researchers and journalists tracking Northvolt’s downfall share the view that it was at least partly caused by a global dip in demand for electric vehicles (EVs).
In September Volvo abandoned its target to only produce EVs by 2030, arguing that “customers and markets are moving at different speeds”. Meanwhile China, the market leader in electric batteries, has been able to undercut Northvolt’s prices.
Missing production targets (a key factor in BMW pulling out of a €2bn deal in June), expanding too quickly, and the company’s leadership have also been widely cited as factors fuelling the crisis....
…Some local businesses say the publicity around Northvolt’s crisis is already having a negative impact….
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“The Guardian view on a carbon-free economy: no just transition in sight – yet
Factory closures highlight the turbulent shift to a green economy, exposing political challenges and the urgent need for a equitable move to net zero”
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/03/the-guardian-view-on-a-carbon-free-economy-no-just-transition-in-sight-yet
Good analysis – wrong conclusion. The final paragraph would be hilarious were it not so tragic:
…The politics of this look sadly familiar: every closure, every big job loss will aid those on the right who claim net zero is a zealots’ agenda. In Port Talbot, where a plan has at last been fixed for a new electric future, locals point out that Asian countries are still opening the old-model blast furnaces. It is the job of Labour and others who take the just transition seriously to increase both the money and urgency behind it. Otherwise, local unemployment will produce local devastation and widespread resentment that can be mobilised by the most reactionary forces. The challenge is profound.
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“Grangemouth refinery staff sent redundancy letters”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czdl7qgg2rqo
Some workers at the Grangemouth refinery have been sent redundancy letters by their employer Petroineos.
The site, which is Scotland’s only oil refinery, is set to close by the summer with the loss of more than 400 jobs.
It is understood the majority of workers have agreed voluntary redundancy deals, and job losses will be spread out over the next 18 months.
Union leaders had hoped that the central Scotland facility could remain open for longer to provide time for a greener fuel alternative to be established at the site.
The Unite union said the move was a “national disgrace” and accused the UK and Scottish governments of being “missing in action” as the closure takes effect….
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“Unions call for £200m from government to keep two Scunthorpe steel furnaces open
Exclusive: They say the support for British Steel’s transition to electric replacement is needed to prevent immediate job losses”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/20/unions-british-steel-scunthorpe-blast-furnaces-government-funding
British Steel should get an extra £200m from the government to support it in keeping the UK’s two remaining blast furnaces open until electric replacements are built, according to a proposal put forward by unions.
Chinese-owned British Steel has said it will replace its polluting blast furnaces at Scunthorpe with electric arc furnaces, which can be used to make much cleaner, recycled steel.
However, unions are concerned that a rapid closure of the blast furnaces will result in the loss of nearly 2,000 jobs within months.
The loss of as many as 1,900 of Scunthorpe’s 4,000 jobs could cause “severe socioeconomic consequences” for Lincolnshire, according to a report, seen by the Guardian, from Syndex, a consultancy commissioned by the Community union.
The British steel industry must switch away from coal-driven blast furnaces in order to meet net zero carbon targets. The switch has already cost 2,500 jobs at Port Talbot, south Wales, where Indian-owned Tata Steel shut down its blast furnaces in September….
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“Rebel with a cause”
https://www.rebelenergy.com/mission
Battling the injustices that burden our customers and the planet. We do this by tackling the true cost of energy head on. Not by fiddling numbers or buying certificates that let us pretend our energy is green, but by taking direct action to make things better.
OUR MISSION:
Energy costs – we can’t avoid that. But we can make sure those that need financial support get it, and fast.
Our planet pays a price, too. But we fight to reverse that damage by investing in projects that lock up carbon and restore wildlife.
We do this because we believe big business can be good business. In fact, by breaking from the norm, we’ll make it obvious all big business should be good business….
And now:
“Rebel Energy goes bust leaving 90,000 customers without supplier
UK energy firm ceases trading, blaming ‘perfect storm’ of soaring wholesale prices and squeezed customers”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/apr/01/rebel-energy-goes-bust
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Well, well SSE to make ?00s of redundancies across the whole company including renewables. Fall in profits, not reaching predicated targets etc etc including overstaffed, overloaded with contractors and consultants. In the grand scheme of employment type, green or otherwise, most if not all could be listed in the Green Jobs category. We shall see how the rest of the Power Big Boys progress in glorious Net Zero gold rush.
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JamesS,
That’s interesting . Can you supply a link, please?
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Mark , loads of stuff under google search ‘SSE redundancies’.
Got some info from an employee.
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I think it may be a case of “watch this space”. My online searching is mostly coming up with redundancies in Northern Ireland so far as 2025 is concerned (there seem to have been a few redundancies when SSE sold OVO Energy too).
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Mark try SSE redundancies Scotland 2025
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Nope, still not getting anything. Indeed, on the contrary, this popped up:
https://www.ssen-transmission.co.uk/news/news–views/2024/11/a-new-office-for-ssen-transmission-in-glasgow-as-workforce-growth-continues/
As SSEN Transmission continues to grow our workforce to deliver a network for net zero, the business will be taking up residence at a new office in Glasgow in 2025, reflecting the need for an increase in green energy workers across Scotland, including in the central belt.
Admittedly it’s an SSE puff piece and it’s from November last year, but still….
I’ll monitor the media for news over the next few days and weeks.
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“Immigration officers arrest 16 at Anglesey solar farm”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp8v3d80n9ro
Sixteen workers at an Anglesey solar farm have been arrested on suspicion of working without proper documentation.
Immigration officers visited the Porth Wen solar farm, near Cemaes, on 20 March, the Home Office confirmed, after a referral notice was served on the subcontractor working on the company’s behalf….
…”Whilst I understand that they have asked sub-contractors to review all of the permits in place for their workers, it will do little to satisfy the wider local concerns surrounding a project which threatens large swathes of productive agricultural land,” he [the local MS] said…
…The news that workers have been brought in and employed on the Porth Wen site without the necessary permits raises further concerns about the absence of real local benefits, ap Iorwerth added.…
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So they won’t have had a CSCS card either.
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JamesS – you were correct:
“SSE to cut jobs and renewables projects in Scotland”
https://www.thenational.scot/news/25069155.sse-cut-jobs-renewables-projects-scotland/
SSE is set to cut jobs and scrap several renewable energy projects in Scotland, citing rising costs for the decision.
Around 150 jobs are on the line as the energy firm said in a memo to staff that a range of economic and other factors could no longer be ignored, according to The Times.
The number of proposed redundancies is reportedly equivalent to almost 10% of the company’s workforce.
Last month, SSE announced 55 job losses from its energy services division in Northern Ireland because of “challenging” trading conditions.
Prospect Unions, which represents SSE workers, negotiator Ian Perth said: “We’re disappointed that a profitable company like SSE feels the need to shed jobs in renewables which is supposed to be a key growth sector. …”…
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Mark , yes the guy I was speaking to is to lose 2 from his team of 6 and that’s the IT section. They are now looking at other departments in the company, it seems to be an outside firm advising on where to make cuts ??
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One of the BBC’s proper journalists, the ever-excellent Douglas Fraser, nails it:
“The choppy waters between North Sea oil and green energy revolution”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg414w9xx91o
The Great Energy Transition is under way, and may come to define this era, but it’s not going smoothly.
For the oil and gas sector, a further sign of its decline – both long-term and cyclical – is in 250 onshore Aberdeen jobs being axed by Harbour Energy, now one of the biggest operators.
With a global portfolio of producing fields, it has other places to put its capital, from Egypt to Argentina, where profits are not taxed at 78%, and where the government is not refusing to grant new drilling licences.
It is also reviewing its commitment to the Viking carbon capture and storage scheme being planned for Humberside, blaming “repeated delays” by the UK government.
The same company is a partner in the similar Acorn project, based in north-east Scotland. Those “repeated delays” affect both projects.
It would be less concerning if there were a transition for oil and gas workers into the renewables sector, re-skilling as they move. For many, including their union representatives, that is merely rhetoric.
And the gap between one industry declining and the other rising is growing wider, with the decision by Ørsted, a Danish company, to halt development of a vast offshore wind farm off the coast of Yorkshire, called Hornsea 4.
The project secured a valuable and hard-won guarantee of a minimum price for 15 years, known as a Contract for Difference. That reduces risk for investors. But Orsted, majority owned by the Copenhagen government, is giving that away, and paying heavily to break supply chain contracts, because the financing of the project no longer stacks up.
The clean energy revolution is also grinding to a halt near Scotland’s west coast. Drax, the owner of the hydro power station inside Ben Cruachan near Oban, had plans to expand its potential for pumped storage – a form of storing power by pumping water uphill when demand is low and there’s excess supply of wind power, and then releasing water steeply downhill to generate power when demand goes up.
To reduce risk for investors, it wanted to win a similar type of contract for a minimum price (as well as a maximum one). But it’s decided to postpone that £500m plan, blaming the capital costs.
Even before the auction of contracts has been designed by Ofgem, it’s backing out of bidding later this year, looking instead to the UK government and its regulator, Ofgem, to help reduce the risk and the costs associated with it.
Meanwhile, Drax is looking at less ambitious options for expanding the existing power station, now aged 60, which could generate both power and the cash to go much further.
Such delays put a big question mark over the Labour UK government plan to reach 95% of British energy generation from clean sources within only five years. If current plans cannot stack up financially, there are many other plans that are put into doubt.
These include four projects for pumped storage in Scotland – three of them new, one an expansion – and the humongous ScotWind plans to locate hundreds of fixed and floating wind turbines arrayed around the coast of Scotland.
Without pumped storage, the greener grid will require a lot more battery storage, and that is not proving popular with those who live near planned sites.
Because the UK government has set such an ambitious and high-profile target for clean, green power, it may be that these developers are using the leverage of a halted project to get a more attractive set of price guarantees.
These don’t come from the taxpayer but from future electricity bill-payers.…
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“Major British Chemical Plant Faces Closure as Energy Prices Soar”
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/05/10/major-british-chemical-plant-faces-closure-as-energy-prices-soar/
One of Britain’s biggest chemical plants is at risk of closure after the site’s Saudi owners paused a multimillion-pound upgrade project, citing high energy prices and a lack of Government concern for the crisis-hit sector.…
...Earlier this year, chemical company bosses warned Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, to expect mounting closures as the industry reached “breaking point”.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe, one of Britain’s richest men, has also warned the UK’s multibillion-pound chemicals industry faces “extinction” because of soaring energy costs and the shift to Net Zero.
Sources close to Sabic suggested the plant’s closure was partly due to Britain’s high energy prices as well as the perceived lack of interest shown by the Government in the crisis-hit sector.
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“Nissan to cut 11,000 more jobs and shut seven factories”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyg250pe81o
Japanese carmaker Nissan has said it will cut another 11,000 jobs globally and shut seven factories as it shakes up the business in the face of weak sales.
Falling sales in China and heavy discounting in the US, its two biggest markets, have taken a heavy toll on earnings, while a proposed merger with Honda and Mitsubishi collapsed in February.
The latest cutbacks bring the total number of layoffs announced by the company in the past year to about 20,000, or 15% of its workforce.
It was not immediately clear where the job cuts will be made, or whether Nissan’s plant in Sunderland will be affected.
The government said the plant was of “vital importance” to the north east of England, and that it would “engage closely” with Nissan over its restructuring plans....
…The latest layoffs come on top of 9,000 job cuts Nissan announced in November as part of a cost saving effort that it said would reduce its global production by a fifth.…
…Last week, Nissan announced it had scrapped plans to build a battery and electric vehicle factory in Japan as it cuts back on investment.…
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Mark – just to extend your above quote –
“The firm has been in trouble in key markets, including China where growing competition has led to falling prices. In China, many foreign carmakers have struggled to compete with homegrown firms such as BYD.
China has become the world’s biggest producer of electric vehicles, with some established car-making nations having failed to anticipate demand for the new technology.“
My bold – not sure what the BBC News Business reporters are trying to say with that statement?
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dfhunter,
I wondered about that too. It’s a two-edged sword. Are they saying that China is a huge threat to jobs in the west, or are they trying to say that the developed world is missing a huge opportunity here?
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Shocking – nothing to do with us, gov!
“Climate experts criticise handling of Tata changes”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c79ezrvd9neo
The UK’s climate change advisors have criticised the handling of a switch to greener steelmaking at the country’s largest plant in Port Talbot, which resulted in huge job losses.
Government ministers should have been better at planning ahead and making sure other green jobs were available locally, the experts said.
The independent Climate Change Committee, external (CCC) has set out its latest advice on how Wales reaches net zero – with a push for more electric vehicles, heat pumps and tree planting.
The Welsh and UK governments said they had been working together to develop “a strong vision” for the region’s future and deliver “our clean energy superpower mission”.“…
…But environmentalists have warned the situation at Port Talbot could damage public support for climate action if it is seen to mean job losses and the demise of heavy industry.
In its report, the CCC said there were “important lessons to learn”, and that governments in both Westminster and Cardiff Bay should have been better prepared.
“The challenges facing the UK steel sector have been clear for many years and, given the significance of this site to the local economy, a more proactive and decisive transition plan should have been developed,” they argued….
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PS Since when did the CCC become “climate experts”?
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“All jobs lost at offshore technology firm as more than 200 staff left ‘devastated’
More than 200 members of staff have been made redundant, according to employees who took to social media to share the news.”
https://news.stv.tv/north/all-jobs-lost-at-offshore-technology-firm-with-aberdeen-base-as-more-than-200-staff-left-devastated
All jobs have been lost at a UK offshore and subsea technology firm which has a base in Aberdeen following a merger last year.
Bristol-headquartered Beam had an office at Kingshill Park in Westhill as well as bases in Edinburgh and New York.
The firm use AI and autonomy on robotic ships and underwater robots to service offshore wind farms.
More than 200 members of staff have been made redundant across the company, according to employees….
...The firm pledged a recruitment drive in the north east of Scotland as part of plans to expand the business.
However, recent accounts submitted to Companies House saw Rovco reporting a £8.1m loss before tax in 2023 after an £8.7m loss the year prior....
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Matthew Lynn in the Telegraph on the mirage of green jobs. His conclusion:
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Thanks Jit,
A few more paragraphs from the Matthew Lynn article that also nail it:
...many of those [supposedly new green jobs] are simply installation work for technologies such as heat pumps. All they do is simply replace existing work in traditional engineering. If a plumber switches from installing gas boilers to heat pumps he might be classified as moving into a “green job”. But that doesn’t mean any extra employment has been created.
The blunt reality is this. Ed Miliband, along with the climate commissars around him, have been peddling a lie. If there were genuinely lots of well-paid green jobs, we would have seen evidence of them by now.
Instead, we are now in the absurd position where climate groups such as Greenpeace clamour for one round of subsidies for green energy and then another round to help all the people who lose their jobs as a result. It is a never-ending cycle of more and more government spending.
We are lectured endlessly about how transitioning to net zero will create lots of employment. But there is no sign of it actually happening….
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An interesting take on the green revolution in this article from The Conversation:
Britain’s net zero construction workforce is already at risk of being burnt out
It looks like green jobs aren’t necessarily good jobs.
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I don’t believe this story for one moment. I suspect it’s a pre-emptive strike by this section of the media, but it’s interesting, nevertheless:
“Will the North Sea oil and gas industry be Labour’s next U-turn?
With Nigel Farage targeting net zero, could government policy change to protect jobs, revenue and votes?”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/jun/08/will-north-sea-oil-and-gas-industry-be-labour-next-u-turn
…The Labour government swept to power last summer with a manifesto pledge to end new North Sea oil and gas projects and make Britain a clean energy superpower. But in less than a year the government has bent to the backlash against some of its most high-profile policies on benefits and winter fuel allowances, stoking speculation that its stance on the North Sea might be the next position to crumble.…
…with domestically produced oil and gas being replaced with imports from Qatar and the US, sources believe that the Treasury is anxious to allow projects to move ahead to protect the more than 200,000 jobs that rely on the North Sea sector, and the billions in forecast tax revenues the industry generates for the exchequer.
“Within the Treasury there is a desire to interpret the manifesto commitment loosely,” a second industry source said. “If there is an existing licence related to a field which means it might not be considered a ‘greenfield’ site then perhaps an expansion of that area could be acceptable.”
The North Sea contributes £25bn in value to the UK economy each year, according to the trade group Offshore Energies UK, which is more than five times the contribution of the UK steel industry and twice the contribution of the UK car industry.
“I suspect there will be some difficult internal rows about what counts as a ‘new licence’ between DESNZ and the Treasury – but I suspect that ultimately the Treasury will win this battle, with support from No 10,” the source added.…
...Britain’s trade unions, which donate generously to the Labour party, fear that job losses in the industry and its supply chains are accelerating quicker than companies can pivot towards the green economy.
Sharon Graham, the general secretary of Unite, said: “Letting go of one rope before we have hold of another by ending oil and gas licences is not acceptable. It threatens both our national security and jobs.”
“Oil and gas workers cannot be the coal miners of our generation,” she added. “Britain needs to maintain skills and invest in the industries of the future. Jobless transitions will not be accepted by Unite, neither will jam tomorrow. If Labour do not back workers other voices fill the vacuum.”
Andy Prendergast, the GMB’s national secretary, said the union has called on the government to re-appraise the UK’s energy policy. “Existing policy is simply offshoring responsibility, importing virtue, and undercutting a transition for energy workers in the North Sea,” he said….
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I don’t want to get dragged into the immigration debate, but this is a curious report:
“Tighter immigration rules could hit UK net zero mission, report warns
Half of foreign-born workers in green jobs would not have been allowed in under new rules, thinktank says”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/17/tighter-immigration-rules-could-hit-uk-net-zero-mission-report-warns
Tough rules announced in the government’s immigration white paper could jeopardise the UK’s net zero mission by causing labour shortages, a report has warned.
Labour’s white paper released last month included plans to raise the minimum qualification for skilled worker visas from A-level equivalent to degree and to maintain the higher salary threshold of £38,700 introduced by the outgoing Conservative government last year.
A report by the Centre for European Reform (CER), calculates that more than half of the foreign-born workers doing “green jobs” in the UK – 260,000 out of 465,000 – would not have been allowed in under the new rules….
We can argue about what constitutes a green job (see below) but are they really saying that 465,000 of these so-called green jobs are being done by foreigners?
...Using Office for National Statistics data, the CER defined a green job as one in which more than a third of the worker’s time is spent on green tasks. Many of these are in the construction sector, given the need to retrofit homes with low-carbon technologies, for example….
The issue of immigration is highly contentious. If this is correct, it must cast still more doubt on the electoral wisdom of any party that wants to win elections carrying on down the net zero route:
...“The government should keep an eye on labour shortages in occupations that are crucial for its net zero and housebuilding missions, and relax visa rules if needed,” Springford said. “But offering exemptions to the rules for specific occupations is risky.”
Other options mooted in the report include offering “green visas” for jobs that contribute to achieving the government’s target of hitting net zero by 2050, or reducing salary and skills thresholds right across the economy.…
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Meanwhile (you almost couldn’t make it up on the back of the Guardian article above – do Guardian editors cross-check what their journalists write?):
“Ed Miliband says Labour will ‘win fight’ against UK net zero critics
Energy secretary speaks at launch of £1bn investment scheme to bolster jobs in offshore wind supply chain”
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/jun/17/ed-miliband-says-labour-will-win-fight-against-uk-net-zero-critics
Ed Miliband has said the government will “win this fight” against critics of Britain’s net zero plan, in part by creating more offshore wind jobs in the country’s former industrial heartlands.
The energy secretary appeared to take aim at his political opponents in the Conservative and Reform UK parties as he launched a £1bn investment scheme to bolster job opportunities in the offshore wind supply chain….
It looks as though yet another £1 billion of taxpayers’ money is being wasted. Of course, we must always remember that such expenditure is an investment, never a cost (sarc).
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I take no pleasure form seeing a business fail and from people losing their jobs. But when is it going to dawn on the powers that be that there is no “green jobs revolution”? There is an additional irony here:
…The business also said rising energy prices were putting pressure on operations.…
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“Government supporting refinery as 420 jobs at risk”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2k11xze2jyo
The government is funding the official receiver to ensure the safe operation of an oil refinery after its owner went into administration, a minister has said.
Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery Limited, which owns the plant in Immingham, North East Lincolnshire, filed for insolvency on Sunday, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
There are 420 employees at the refinery, though Unite the Union said 1,000 jobs could be affected when taking into account contractors and the supply chain....
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“Nissan Sunderland looking to cut 250 jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgene88z3lo
Nissan is looking to cut about 250 jobs from its UK factory, as part of a global shake-up in the face of weak sales.…
...A spokesperson said the Sunderland plant remained “at the forefront of our electrification strategy”.
“In order to support future competitiveness, this week we are beginning discussions with some of our team in Sunderland about the opportunity to voluntarily leave Nissan, with support from the company,” the spokesperson said.
“This will support the plant’s efficiency as we aim to become a leaner, more resilient, business.“
Earlier in June, the car manufacturer unveiled details of its new Leaf electric vehicle, which is set to be built at the Sunderland factory.…
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“Tanker drivers lose jobs after refinery collapse”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czxwgrl3lk0o
More than 100 tanker drivers have been made redundant after the Prax Lindsey Oil Refinery filed for insolvency.
Axis Logistics, the main delivery firm for the refinery in North Lincolnshire, went into administration along with parent company Prax Group at the end of June.
Administrator Teneo said the majority of Axis’s 137 employees had been made redundant...
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“Talks to start on closure of biodiesel plant”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0zk60e2lro
Talks are due to start on a proposal to permanently close a biodiesel plant in North East Lincolnshire, a fuel supplier has said.
Greenergy confirmed it will begin a consultation process to cease production at its site in Immingham due to “continuing market pressures”.
About 60 jobs are at risk at the plant, which began operating in 2007 and accounts for over 25% of UK biodiesel, the company has said….
…The Immingham plant converts waste oils into biodiesel, which goes into diesel used in cars, public buses and lorries, to help bring down the carbon emissions they produce.
Mr Traeger said: ”It has been an incredibly difficult decision to enter consultation on the proposed closure of our Immingham site, and a decision we have not taken lightly.
“However, in light of continuing market pressures, we unfortunately do not have enough certainty on the outlook for UK biofuels policy to make the substantial investments required to create a competitive operation at Immingham.”…
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Behind a paywall unfortunately:
“Flagship SNP Government fund creates few renewables jobs”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/25310608.flagship-snp-government-fund-creates-renewables-jobs/
As overseas investors enjoy the benefits of Scotland’s offshore wind power boom, the SNP Government has suffered a fresh blow to the credibility of its £500 million plan to support a just transition from oil and gas dependence.
Weeks after energy minister Gillian Martin dusted off discredited claims that the offshore wind sector would create thousands of skilled jobs, developments on a flagship windfarm scheme have left such boosterism looking increasingly desperate….
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“Bioethanol plant hit by Trump trade deal warns of job cuts without UK bailout
Bosses say the firm is at risk of closure now protective tariffs have been withdrawn.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukbioethanol-plant-vivergo-fuels-hit-donald-trump-trade-deal-job-cuts/
The British government has less than a month to save 160 jobs at a major bioethanol producer, its bosses are warning, as the industry reels from the U.K.-U.S. trade deal signed by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer.
Vivergo Fuels Managing Director Ben Hackett said his company is at risk of closure and that if the government can’t provide financial support in time, redundancies will begin imminently…..
...As part of the U.K.-U.S. Economic Prosperity Deal, struck between the Trump administration and Starmer’s U.K. government, the U.K. granted Washington a new tariff-free quota of up to 1.4 billion liters of ethanol, which is used in farming and as a fuel source.
Hackett said this is worth “the entire” U.K. bioethanol market. Previously, U.S. ethanol imported into the U.K. faced tariffs ranging from 10 to 50 percent.
“Those tariffs are in place, not because we’re worse at making ethanol than the U.S. — they use genetically modified corn, antibiotics, they have lower energy costs and they have tax subsidies from the government,” explained Hackett. “The tariffs were just to say we wanted a level playing field.”…[My emphasis].
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“Labour must create green jobs or lose voters to parties who oppose net zero, unions warn
GMB and Prospect say government needs greater focus on green energy amid political shift away from net zero commitments”
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/23/labour-unions-green-jobs-net-zero-energy
…The GMB and Prospect, who between them represent tens of thousands of energy workers, said there needs to be more of a focus on increasing green jobs as the fossil fuel industry is increasingly phased out.
They said without more tangible progress there is a danger of public support for the transition to clean energy being undermined – and potentially voters opting for a new government that does not support net zero.
Their intervention comes after Reform UK pledged to rip up green energy contracts if the party wins power and the Conservatives also shifted away from support for net zero earlier this year, showing the political arguments over the shift to green jobs are not settled.
Launching a new campaign group called Climate Jobs UK, Gary Smith, the general secretary of GMB union, said: “How the UK makes the transition to net zero is hugely important. The voices of those working in the energy sector day in, day out, who have vast experience of dealing with change, need to be front and centre of the process. If not, it’s doomed to fail.
“At the moment, the transition feels like something being done to workers – that can’t continue. People need to see real jobs created where they live, and their local economy boosted, or we’re going to see more and more tempted by the siren calls of those who deny the reality of climate change.”…
…Only three in 10 voters thought the energy transition would have a positive impact on job opportunities in the UK, and this fell to two in 10 when asked about jobs in their own local area. Fewer than one in 10 voters said the transition had led to more job opportunities in their area so far.…
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“Oil refinery has ended production, officials say”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cg50ye7pj6no
Production has ended at a Lincolnshire oil refinery, the government has confirmed.
Lindsey Oil Refinery, near Immingham, was taken over by the Official Receiver in June after its owner Prax Group went into administration, putting 420 jobs at risk.
Harriet Eisner, a Unite regional co-ordinator, said supplies of crude oil ran out on Friday….
…Council leader Rob Waltham said its closure would be a “devastating blow” and “thousands of jobs” were at risk at the refinery and in the supply chain.…
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“Workers ‘in limbo’ as biofuel plant takes final delivery”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c6276y4p3l5o
At a fuel plant near Hull, 20 tonnes of wheat are being poured from a lorry into storage, ready to be turned into ethanol – a type of alcohol that, when blended with petrol, reduces emissions.
But this week’s delivery, grown in the fields of Lincolnshire, is the last one on order for Vivergo Fuels.
The owners of the UK’s largest bioethanol plant, at Saltend, say its future is in doubt following a government decision to end a 19% tariff on US imports of the fuel as part of the recent UK-US trade deal.
Last month, Vivergo, which is owned by Associated British Foods (ABF), began consulting staff about shutting down the plant due to the uncertainty.
Managers are calling for financial help from ministers. Without it, they say production at the site – which employs more than 160 people – may halt before 13 September.
They estimate about 4,500 jobs in the supply chain will be affected, including the farmers who grow the wheat and the truck drivers who transport it….[in diesel-fuelled trucks?].
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Well, the idea of turning wheat into biofuel is batty. The same goes for the imported bioethanol that will replace it. Of course, importing biofuel presumably reduces our emissions, on book at least.
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Behind a paywall, but what can be seen is clear enough:
“Revealed: 13,000 Scots oil and gas jobs disappear in a year”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25356518.revealed-13-000-scots-oil-gas-jobs-disappear-year/
More than 13,000 Scots oil and gas jobs have been lost in the space of just one year while over 40% of the UK’s energy needs is being imported, it can be revealed.
It comes as the UK’s offshore energy industry trade group has called on UK ministers to give greater support for North Sea oil and gas production insisting it is not incompatible with net zero aims – contrary to environmental group narratives….
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Wonder if BBC investigate will cover the story?
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“No rescue for UK bioethanol industry facing collapse”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c24zlel2y5yo
The UK’s bioethanol industry faces collapse, after a government decision not to offer the sector a rescue package.
The country’s two major producers, Hull-based Vivergo Fuels and the Ensus plant in Redcar on Teesside, have both warned that without government support they will be forced to close, after a deal to allow US ethanol to be imported tariff-free.…
…The two plants employ 270 people, but their closure could affect thousands more in the supply chain….
…The government said it would continue to work on measures to ensure the resilience of the CO2 supply chain.
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On a much larger scale, Jim Ratcliffe is warning that the Ethylene & Polymers unit at Grangemouth is at risk of closure due to high energy costs, etc.. If that goes my guess is that it will take a lot of downstream processing and manufacturing with it.
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https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/viewpoint/25393521.scotland—the-saudi-arabia-renewables—not-yet/
…Between 2022 and 2023, total jobs in Scotland’s low carbon economy rose from 26,000 to 33,500, the highest level since ONS began collecting this data in 2014. That’s a headline ministers will happily boast about. But let’s look at the detail.
Most of those new jobs came in sectors such as low-emission vehicles and infrastructure, energy-efficient lighting and energy-efficient products.
By contrast, the offshore and onshore wind industries, which dominate the Scottish Government’s green industrial strategy, saw jobs barely move. Offshore wind added just 100 jobs in a year. Onshore wind added 200. Combined, they now account for just over 6,800 jobs, or about 20% of all low carbon employment, despite generating more than half of all turnover and exports in the sector.
Put bluntly, for every million pounds of turnover, offshore wind creates just 1.3 jobs; onshore wind creates less than one….
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“Oil and gas firm Petrofac files for administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk
North Sea contractor says move applies only to its ultimate holding company and it will continue to trade”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/oct/27/oil-gas-petrofac-files-for-administration-jobs-north-sea
Petrofac, one of the biggest North Sea oil and gas contractors, has filed for administration, putting more than 2,000 jobs in Scotland at risk.
The energy services provider said it had applied to the high court of England and Wales to appoint administrators, after it lost a major offshore wind project over its failure to meet contractual obligations....
…any uncertainty over the company’s continued viability could add to political pressure on the UK government, as it faces a backlash over plans to tackle the climate crisis by blocking new North Sea oil licences for exploration.…
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“Wind farms lagging behind oil and gas firms in jobs creation”
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/25575685.wind-farms-lagging-behind-oil-gas-firms-jobs-creation/
JUST one job has been created for every £1 million generated by Scotland’s wind industry, according to a new report.
New analysis by the Scottish Trade Union Congress (STUC) on Scotland’s low carbon and renewable energy economy has revealed the extent of the spending gap.
By contrast, the STUC report found that every £1m of investment by fossil fuel companies generated 14.2 jobs in 2022 and 13.4 jobs in 2023.
According to the report, low carbon and renewable energy (LCRE) firms employed 26,000 people in 2022 and 33,500 people the next year, a rise of almost 29%.
The STUC analysis continues: “The largest sectors for employment in the low carbon and renewable energy (LCRE) economy are energy efficient lighting and energy efficient products, representing over a third of total LCRE employment….
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Mark – Is it just me or is this “Oil and gas firm Petrofac files for administration, putting thousands of jobs at risk” a tad misleading given what follows in the article. You quote some bits, but this –
“But the company told investors on Thursday that the cancellation of a contract by TenneT, a European electricity grid operator and its biggest customer, meant that a solvent restructuring was no longer possible. The TenneT contract was to build offshore wind projects off the Dutch coast.
The company said: “Having carefully assessed the impact of TenneT’s decision, the board has determined that the restructuring, which had last week reached an advanced stage, is no longer deliverable in its current form.”
Doublespeak at it’s best.
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dfhunter,
The Petrofac story is confusing. It seems obvious that its struggles stem from the demise of North Sea Oil and Gas. No doubt it has tried to diversify into supporting North Sea wind farms, but the suggestion that its demise is predominantly due to its failure to win a contract connected to offshore wind seems a bit of a red herring.
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“British Gas boss voices concerns over Scotland’s energy jobs”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr437w9nr96o
Chris O’Shea hasn’t lived in Scotland for decades but the boss of Centrica, the owner of British Gas, is worried over the future of the energy industry in his homeland.
He is concerned that the “demise” of drilling for gas and oil in the North Sea and the move to green energy will not create new roles quickly enough to offset job losses.…
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“Scotland being ‘gaslit’ over renewable energy jobs, GMB union says
GMB Scotland calls for end to ‘self-harming’ energy policy from UK government.”
https://www.energyvoice.com/renewables-energy-transition/wind/uk-wind/584847/scotland-being-gaslit-over-renewables-jobs-gmb-union-says-oil-gas-north-sea/
A Scottish trade union leader has accused the UK government of “running down” jobs in oil and gas and called for the “self-harming” energy policy to end.
GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour told the Herald newspaper that Scotland is being “gaslit” over the promise of future jobs in renewables.
“Unfortunately for ministers, promising a just transition does not make it happen and repeatedly telling Scots that jobs are coming does not create them,” Gilmour said.
“Instead, we are continuing to be gaslit by government telling us not to believe our eyes but to believe their promises, telling us that black is white and up is down.
“We are rushing to rundown oil and gas industries that we will need for decades to come and risking skills that will pave our way to net zero while promised jobs in renewable energy are created everywhere but here.”
Gilmour’s comments come after the Westminster Scottish Affairs Committee last month warned that North Sea oil and gas jobs are declining faster than the growth in renewables…..
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“ExxonMobil to shut chemicals plant in Fife with loss of up to 450 jobs
US oil firm blames UK government policy and supply costs for closure of site near Cowdenbeath”
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/nov/18/exxonmobil-shuts-chemicals-plant-fife-near-cowdenbeath-job-losses
ExxonMobil is to close a chemicals plant in Scotland that employs hundreds of workers within months, blaming the decision on the UK government’s “economic and policy environment”.
Workers at Fife Ethylene Plant were told on Tuesday that the oil company would shut the 40-year-old facility near Cowdenbeath by February next year owing to the difficult policy and market conditions in the UK.
About 200 workers and 250 contractors were told that talks between the company and Westminster had failed to secure a lifeline for the plant because it lacked a “competitive future”.
In a statement, Exxon said it had “tested the market” for a potential buyer, but said the UK’s “current economic and policy environment combined with market conditions, high supply costs and plant efficiency” meant it had been unable to secure the site’s future.
The company also accused the government of creating a policy environment that was “accelerating the exit of vital industries, domestic manufacturing and the high-value jobs they provide”….
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At PMQs:
It was sick under the Conservatives, but it died under Labour.
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None of the media or political commentary seems to look at the wider picture.
The Fife plant at Mossmoran has a capacity of 830,000 tons per year of ethylene: where will its customers get their feedstock when it shuts? It sells for nearly $1000 per ton. My guess is that most went for export since we have little petrochem manufacturing. So that’s close to $1 bn per year of lost export earnings and/or import costs for any UK consumers.
Perhaps of greater concern is what impact will this have upstream? The Fife plant is the only customer for the ethane which comes ashore at St Fergus in the natural gas from the North Sea, along with some natural gas liquids (NGLs). Methane, the main constituent, is separated at St Fergus and fed into the grid. Ethane and the NGLs are piped to the Shell plant at Mossmoran where the various liquids are separated and piped to an export terminal and the ethane is fed to Exxon’s ethylene plant. (Some used to be piped onwards to the Ineos plant at Grangemouth which has now closed).
There is no alternative use for the ethane. When the Fife plant had a major shutdown some years ago, Shell dealt with the ethane by reducing the overall flow of gas into St Fergus, blending some into the grid, up to the limits allowed, burning some as fuel and flaring – which provoked complaints. Those measures were temporary and are probably not viable long term. Reducing the flows from the N. Sea would be particularly worrying as it would weaken the economics of the producers (this is the Forties pipeline which serves approx 80 fields, iirc). It would also increase our requirement for imports – from Norway or as LNG which would be another hit to the balance of payments.
The immediate loss of jobs is tragic but the wider and longer-term ramifications are far greater.
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“Britain’s Net Zero nightmare is destroying heavy industry”
Commentary on the loss of the Fife plant at Spiked.
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“100 jobs lost at North Sea energy firm as Labour tax regime blamed”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/100-jobs-lost-north-sea-112135216.html
A NORTH Sea energy firm is to cut 100 offshore jobs from its workforce, citing the Labour Government’s tax regime.
Harbour Energy said on Monday that an uncompetitive tax regime, coupled with lower commodity prices, have put pressure on the UK oil and gas sector, and forced the company into restructuring – shedding scores of Scottish jobs….
…Harbour has cut 600 jobs since 2023, will the job losses announced this week to come on top of that…
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It’s ironic that “Where Did All The Green Jobs Go?” is the title Mark gave this post back in sept 21.
Since then all/most of the “jobs” news has been about jobs lost for little Green Jobs gained.
No wonder Government want to pump money into the welfare state, as opposed to keeping workers in jobs.
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“GB Energy plan to focus on historical oil and gas areas”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c39pxjdm7xno
Great British Energy (GBE) says its investments aim to support at least 10,000 jobs over the next five years, with a focus on areas historically dependent on oil and gas.
The publicly-owned body, set up by the UK government, has been told by ministers to invest billions to accelerate the transition to green energy.
It says it wants the transition to be seen as “the great economic opportunity of a lifetime” rather than a financial burden.
But there are concerns that the rate of job creation may struggle to keep pace with the number of roles being lost in fossil fuel sectors.
One study, from Robert Gordon University, estimates that a thousand jobs a month are being lost in oil and gas which would create a huge gap with the 10,000 being supported by GBE’s investments.
GBE has yet to formally confirm the future shape of its workforce in Aberdeen but last month revealed that only 15 people were currently based there….
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You couldn’t make it up if you tried. That’s good workers on good pay tossed on the NZ bonfire.
Makes me angry at the lies/stupidity.
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