- Conference
- 2021 Virtual Special Water, Enviroment & Transport Conference
- Date
- 14 April 2021
- Decision
- Carried
This conference notes that the UK Government has previously announced an acceleration on the progress to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Previously, the Committee on Climate Change had looked at the possibility of reaching net zero earlier but concluded that this was not credible. They acknowledged it could be possible in the production of electricity by 2045, however this would require a massive investment in renewable and low carbon generation including new nuclear.
This shift by the UK Government has provoked a massive national debate and conference believes that UNISON WET workers must be ready to respond immediately to this fast-changing situation.
While welcoming the acknowledgment that we need to achieve net zero emissions, WET workers in UNISON will be concerned about the impacts necessary changes will have on them, their families, and communities. They will rightly want to have a significant say in how the UK Water, Environment and Transport industries achieve these difficult but possible outcomes and will determine that any transition which is �just� will secure workers jobs and livelihoods through the process of change.
To illustrate the scale of the challenge, in spring 2020, the Environment Agency established their carbon footprint to be c273,000 tonnes per year over half of which (147,000 tonnes) comes from construction. The Environment Agency also produces 31,000t from their fleet, 16,000t from pumping activity to alleviate flooding and drought, 15,000t from IT, and 13,000t from commuting to and from work (pre-COVID). All these emissions need to be reduced or offset to reach net zero.
The UK water sector baselined total gross Green House Gas (GHG) emissions in 2018-19 at just over 3 MtCO2e (million tonnes CO2 equivalent) – offset by the purchase of green electricity to total net emissions of around 2.4 MtCO2e. This was mostly from the use of grid electricity but included nearly 0.7 MtCO2e of gases (methane and nitrous oxide) emitted from treatment processes. The total excludes emissions from civil engineering construction.
The Committee on Climate Change recommended that HM Treasury should undertake a review of how any transition to net zero be funded and how we ensure a �Just Transition� for workers and businesses in high carbon sectors. Our members in the Water, Environment and Transport Sectors are key stakeholders and need to be involved in this process within UNISON as well as with the UK Government.
Conference therefore calls on the WET SGE to:
1. Support fully the commitments to achieve net zero in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 including the aspiration published by Water UK for the water sector to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
2. Recognise the huge challenge the UK faces in getting to net zero by 2050 and that this is a specific challenge to WET Service Group workers and members. The water sector ranks as the fourth most energy intensive industry in the UK.
3. Support the view that while achieving net zero is a wider citizenship issue for all to consider, how we achieve net zero and the impacts on WET Service Group members is very much an industrial issue best determined by those who work in it.
4. Work with all appropriate stakeholders in UNISON to push policies that support a net zero strategy including a significant increase in employment growth in WET alongside new skills and training packages for new WET workers, all of whom will be required to achieve net zero.
5. Agree that financial support for decarbonisation is achieved through direct government taxation as opposed to levies on bills that often protect the wealthiest consumers.
6. Recognise that public ownership in all parts of the WET sectors presents the most efficient way to deliver decarbonisation while protecting workers and consumers alike.