One Million Climate Jobs: Tackling the Environmental and Economic Crisis

We face a climate crisis and a crisis of pay and employment for millions of working people - but there is an alternative.

Unless decisive action is taken in the next few years, climate change will become irreversible and catastrophic. Already droughts and more intense hurricanes and typhoons are affecting communities around the world and pose the prospect of rising food prices and the greater risk of flooding for us in Britain. But politicians dither and consistently refuse to reach a binding international agreement on reducing emissions.

At the same time working people are paying the price for an economic crisis they did not cause by suffering job insecurity and reduced income levels. Just under two million people are unemployed - a million of them young people. Currently, only 1 in 40 new employee jobs are on secure full-time contracts. Low pay, unemployment and benefit cuts mean that a million families in Britain have to choose between heating their homes adequately in winter or having regular meals.

The One Million Climate Jobs report produced by the Campaign against Climate Change Trade Union group and backed by eight national unions shows that, for a relatively small amount, we can tackle all these problems. We can create a million secure Government jobs in renewable energy, in increasing energy efficiency by insulating homes and public buildings free of charge, in hugely expanding cheap public transport to get people and freight onto cleaner forms of transit, and in developing the "green skills" that we need through education and training.

A million decently paid Government jobs, and the spin-off of half a million additional jobs that this would create, could kick-start the economy. It is the alternative both to austerity and to Government inaction as the world slides towards climate catastrophe.

"The Million Climate Jobs pamphlet is a fantastic tool for mapping the kind of climate justice future we should all be working towards." Naomi Klein

Find out more

Find out more about how one million climate jobs could bring about a just transition to a low-carbon economy, and what it would mean for our society and our climate, in this fully updated and revised 2014 edition.

Read the report online or buy hard copies for £2.50 (or £15 for 10).

To find out about the research behind the report read the full companion technical report.

NEW flyers available promoting the report and campaign - contact info@campaigncc.org if you would like some sent to you free of charge (download here).

The One Million Climate Jobs report is supported by the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), Communication Workers Union (CWU), Fire Brigades Union (FBU), National Union of Students (NUS), Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS), Transport Salaried Staffs Associationa (TSSA), Unite, the union (UNITE), and the University and College Union (UCU).

Get your trade union branch to support the Million Climate Jobs campaign and affiliate with CCC

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Global campaigning for climate jobs

2011 video: One Million Climate Jobs

The figures in this video are not identical to those in the 2014 report, but the message comes through loud and clear. A DVD is available with this video in higher resolution along with a longer (33 min) version with more technical detail. This can be purchased for £6 inc. P&P from Reel News.