Nottingham Friends of the Earth is calling on our local MPs to tell the government that green jobs are good for the economy. And we want the forthcoming Energy Bill to give a high priority to renewable energy.

Research by Green Alliance has shown that there are nearly a million jobs in the green economy. A recent CBI report says green business may have accounted for a third of UK growth in 2010/11. The TUC says 'green is good for growth'. So why are Chancellor George Osborne and a number of other government ministers resisting investment in green jobs and promoting a renewed 'dash-for-gas' based on expensive imports and unproven shale gas?

The green economy is working, say Nottingham Friends of the Earth supporters

This coincided with a national demonstration outside the Treasury. Around 250 representatives of environmental groups, charities and green businesses posed with green hard hats under a banner saying 'one million green jobs already'. Some photos are on the Stop Climate Chaos website at www.greenisworking.org.

Comments from a number of organisations and some useful links are on a Power Industry News website. Also see BusinessGreen and The Guardian.

To email your MP to ask for a clean electricity target in the Energy Bill see the CBE campaign page.

Some background information on the green economy

1. There are almost a million green jobs in the UK currently, according to Green Alliance research. Their August 2012 report, Green Economy: A UK Success Story, states that the number of low carbon and environmental jobs in 2010/11 totalled 939,600.
2. The CBI, in their July 2012 report The Colour of Growth: Maximising the Potential of Green Business, state that the green economy had a turnover of £122 billion in 2010/11 and accounted for around 8% of GDP. They suggest that green business may have accounted for over a third of all UK growth in 2011/12.
3. The TUC's annual climate change conference on 23 October 2012 focused on how to deliver a greener stronger economy: Green is Good for Growth.
4. The Renewable Energy Association (REA), in their April 2012 report Made In Britain, shows that the renewables industry specifically was worth £12.5 billion and supported 110,000 jobs.
5. Populus interviewed over 2000 adults in Great Britain online between 19 and 21 September 2012. The poll for Friends of the Earth showed that 72% of people in the UK think the Energy Bill should give high priority to renewable energy (71% in East Midlands).
6. Government figures released in September 2012 showed that over three quarters of the public (77%) back renewable energy for providing our electricity, fuel and heat.
7. Nottingham is one of the leading cities for installing solar photovoltaic panels - see City Council website and EvoEnergy (solar installer of the year 2012).