Global Justice Now has done a great job in highlighting the 7 arguments that are presented as the deepest wisdom by Global Leaders on why the world economy is the way it is. Like a force of nature or…Read more…
£1billion a year essential for new flood defences
£1billion a year must be spent on flood defences over the next decade to cope with the rising threat of flooding, according to the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and campaigners like Friends of the Earth. In a new initiative, they argue for an end to building new homes in flood-risk areas,…Read more…
Power to the people: Trade unions, energy and climate change
At the end of this year, the countries of the world will meet in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations in a make or break effort to curb global warming by reaching a binding agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The preparatory COP 2…Read more…
MEPs fight to save Europe’s air quality, women’s rights and recycling plans
Europe’s “fresh start” under the Juncker Presidency has already run into opposition from MEPs. A draft document leaked to the press last week shows that key EU environmental proposals on clean air, waste and recycling (the so-called ‘circular economy’), and stronger protection for…Read more…
TUC Green Christmas newsletter – some bright, some sobering news
Seasonally daft and seasonally sobering news from the TUC’s latest Greenworkplaces newsletter. First up is Prospect’s new A-Z Guide to a Sustainable Christmas, a light hearted look at Christmas through a sustainability lens…..and with a fair amount of poetic licence. It’s full of…Read more…
Lima blog #6: Unions must influence country commitments
In solidarity and shared purpose, the international trade union delegation and its Peruvian hosts worked their socks off inside the Lima climate conference. Outside it, the Peoples Summit enriched the city centre, and 20,000 marched on the UN for climate justice. But the conference itself largely…Read more…
UK Shale Gas: A trade union view
The Spectator magazine recently held an energy event called The UK Domestic Energy Landscape: Fixing Britain’s Energy Market, hosted at the offices of the law firm Eversheds. Carbon Brief reported that it “was best summed up” by one of their partners Marcus Trinick who said: “There is no such…Read more…
Lima blog #5: People at work on the frontline of change
Here at #COP20 in Lima, the UN’s current negotiating text ignores the realities of the world of work. Inexplicably, the UN has omitted previously agreed text on securing a Just Transition to a low carbon world. Today, the ITUC backed by trade unions from around the globe are calling a press…Read more…
Lima Diary 4: Peru shows #COP20 the front lines of climate change
Here at COP20 in Lima, the union observer camp was mightily relieved to hear an EU delegate acknowledging their agreement with a key part of our own lobbying by saying: “We propose a reference to the social and employment dimension of the transition towards a low carbon society: the need for just…Read more…
Lima Diary 3: The right to union recognition at #COP20
What trade unions are basically looking for here at #COP20 in Lima is union recognition, and with that, the right to represent our members. In a sense this is no more complicated than any struggle be it among contract cleaners, cinema workers, or in th…Read more…
Lima Diary 2: Groundhog day for ‘just transition’ at #COP20
The #1 objective of the ITUC delegation here in Lima is to ensure the UN honours its commitment to a Just Transition in the negotiating text now in draft form. The UN first made this decision five years ago this month in Cancun. Back then, the 16th ann…Read more…
#AutumnStatement 2014: No budget for a green economy
This was no budget for a green economy. There’s no notion of how the Chancellor’s infrastructure plans or business incentives would contribute to green growth, nor how to avoid any of the downside risks of these plans. Environmental levies look increasingly like a straight revenue raiser….Read more…
Austerity will continue to hit frontline flood defences
One thing at least is clear from the Autumn Statement: austerity measures will continue to undermine our national response to climate change, notably our frontline flood defences. No new money is involved in the multi-year capital programme for flood d…Read more…
Questions for coalition on flood defence promises
Increased spending on flood defences and exploratory talks for the first lagoon power project with potential to provide 8% of the UK’s energy have been trailed as key to the government’s infrastructure plans. But already the Oppostion is arguing that this is not new money – at the beginning…Read more…