Philip Pearson
Climate change, energy and transport are the main parts of my brief as a Senior Policy Officer in the TUC’s Economic & Social Affairs Department. Working out an effective trade union response to climate change has been a huge challenge, very much a collective effort both inside the TUC and with our affiliated unions. It's been difficult to draw any proper boundaries to this work, as it seems to affect so many of our activities and union members out there – in the energy, transport, manufacturing and services, skills and training, education and workplace organising, rights at work … much of what we do, in fact. Green jobs. I even think about them on my allotment.
I’m a member of the European Trade Union Confederation's sustainable development group, building common ground with our affiliates across Europe. And I am currently chair the ITUC's working group on climate change, our interface with the Kyoto treaty processes, magnifying my carbon footprint in so doing.
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Posted on August 26th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
Unintended consequences or not, Budget cuts for the very poorest will boost fuel poverty and undermine efforts to tackle climate change. Households in fuel poverty are already concentrated among exactly those families where the cuts will hit hardest. Worse, DWP Minister Steve Webb has not ruled out cuts in weekly Cold Weather payments this autumn. Media reports put Winter Fuel [...]
Filed under: Economics, Energy, Environment, Equality | No Comments »
Posted on August 19th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
Inequality profoundly matters in our efforts to tackle climate change and prevent runaway global warming. Risks to climate change policies are inherent in the coalition’s unfair and regressive cuts programme - like Winter Fuel Payments - squeezing the poor while effectively allowing the rich to continue to produce much higher levels of emissions. The Spirit Level warns that “Governments may [...]
Filed under: Energy, Environment, Equality | 2 Comments »
Posted on August 16th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
Green show homes, Eco towns and energy efficiency initiatives are among the £19.5m in green cuts announced by Communities Minister Eric Pickles, as part of £32million savings in 2010-2011 (see also Cuts Watch 200). Each decision will mean reductions in future CO2 savings, green jobs and new low carbon prodcut markets.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Environment | 1 Comment »
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by Philip Pearson
The Government’s information agency, the Central Office for Information will shed 40% of its staff in cuts announced today. Staff numbers will be reduced from 737 to 450, cutting deeply into the COI’s £44m core staff costs.
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Culture | No Comments »
Posted on August 3rd, 2010 by Philip Pearson
The Coalition’s decision to abolish the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (RCEP) deepens suspicion that government is not interested in independent environmental research and analysis. When Caroline Spelman announced she was withdrawing Defra’s £1m funding, RCEP was midway through a new consultation on future research priorities. The sustainable use of phosphates and the impacts of low carbon energy generation on [...]
Filed under: Environment | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 30th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
In 2005, the Government’s Sustainable Development Strategy, Securing the Future, strengthened the Sustainable Development Commission’s role as an independent watchdog. It scrutinised Government progress, monitored its targets and primed public debate on anything from health inequality to the Severn Barrage. No longer. Gone for £4.5m. Instead of the SDC telling uncomfortable truths to Government, Government will monitor [...]
Filed under: Environment, Public spending | 1 Comment »
Posted on July 29th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
Is the CBI right to attack Chris Huhne’s support for a tougher EU limit on carbon emissions, in today’s FT? He and his French and German counterparts argued through those pages recently that the EU should up its game from 20% to 30% by 2020, so not to lose competitive edge to low carbon industries in [...]
Filed under: Economics, Environment | No Comments »
Posted on July 26th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
What would our low carbon economy look like without UK-based steel, cement, glass or brick manufacture? According to a new TUC study, the combined impact of the Government’s climate change policies is imposing significant costs on the UK’s energy intensive industries. Jobs essential to a low carbon future are at risk. Without urgent review, current [...]
Filed under: Economics, Environment | 2 Comments »
Posted on July 2nd, 2010 by Philip Pearson
As Government seeks to encourage the “crowding-in of the private sector” it has ordered Yorkshire Forward to make cuts of £40.27m from its £270m business support budget this year (15%).
Filed under: Cuts Watch, Cuts Watch: Regions, Cuts Watch: Transport, Cuts Watch: Welfare | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 24th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
The cut in corporation tax is a multi-million missed opportunity to target investment in low carbon growth industries. Business leaders may have welcomed the cut in corporation tax from 28% to 24% by 2014. They say it delivers a message that “Britain is open for business.” But spread indiscriminately across the whole private sector, including banks, [...]
Filed under: Budget, Environment | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 24th, 2010 by Philip Pearson
The Chancellor announced a levy on banks’ balance sheets “to ensure our banks make a fair contribution to reflect the risks they pose.” But the cut in corporation tax from 28% to 24% by 2014 is expected to negate the impact of the levy on bank profitability. Banks could be better off as a result [...]
Filed under: Budget, Financial crisis, Tax | 1 Comment »
Posted on June 22nd, 2010 by Philip Pearson
The coalition manifesto promised: “a full programme of measures to fulfil our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy”. But the coalition’s first Budget offered little more than a passing reference to the Green Investment Bank, future reforms to the price of CO2 and a renewed promise on energy efficiency. No green “full programme [...]
Filed under: Budget, Environment | 1 Comment »
