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Philip Pearson

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.

  • Economics

    President Obama award for US greenworkplace project!

    17th April 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    A greenworkplaces pilot project led by the US communications union IUE-CWA
    won a Champions for Change Award for its work in training union members to identify energy efficiencies in manufacturing companies. The White House program highlights examples of citizens who represent President Obama’s vision of out-innovating, out-educating, and out-building the rest of the world through projects that move their communities forward.  IUE-CWA’s work stems from an innovative partnership with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). In a pilot program, front line workers conduct the energy efficiency “Treasure Hunts.” For an average one-off investment of $34,500 in energy saving equipment, the unions “Treasure Hunt” program achieves annual utility bill savings of $97,500  and cut CO2 emissions by 779 metric tonnes annually.

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  • Environment

    Fuel truth: 47% cut in fuel poverty budget

    13th April 2012 — Filed under: Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    The DPM’s announcement this week of “at least £540m to fund energy saving improvements in the worst-off homes” sounded like a big boost of new money, but wasn’t. In reality, Government support to tackle fuel poverty has been cut in half. These are the figures. The new budget for fuel poverty is £540m annually. This compares with fuel poverty spending in 2010/11 of £1.15bn. According to estimates from the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), support for fuel poor households has been cut by 47%.

    Here’s how we work this out. In 2010-11, the budget for Warm Front was £345m and for CERT as a whole, £1.3bn. According to DECC, half of the CERT budget (53%) is spent on fuel poverty Priority Groups, so that’s £689m. Add to that the whole of the £116.7m Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) and you reach a total on fuel poverty and priority groups of vulnerable households of £1,150.7m.

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  • Environment

    Carbon capture needs first 5 year jobs plan

    4th April 2012 — Filed under: Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    It seems the green economy is back. Launching a new competition for the first full scale carbon capture (CCS) project,  DECC has acknowledged that it “represents a major green growth opportunity for the UK”. There are new signs too of government linking energy and industry policy. Its roadmap for “a sustainable CCS industry” aims to ”capture emissions from clusters of power and industrial plants linked together…”.

    The potential for power and industry clusters sharing expensive carbon capture technology is well known in industrial regions like Yorkshire & Humber, Teesside, the East Irish Sea and east coast of Scotland. But, if DECC is really serious about capturing CO2 from steel or chemical plant, its consultation paper fails to say how:

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  • Economics

    Time to tax Elgin’s CO2 leakage

    28th March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment, International

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    Each day, 400 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) are escaping free to air from the Total Elgin gas  leak in the North Sea.  There’s no carbon tax to be paid on Total’s gas leak, no charge for adding to the UK’s carbon emissions, or reduction in the company’s overall “carbon allowance”. Total claims that the leakage rate is  200,000 cubic metres a day. A cubic meter of  natural gas generates 1.9 kilos of carbon dioxide, so the daily rate is just under 400 tonnes CO2. Total is reported that it did not yet know the capacity of the leaking reservoir, but in a “dream” scenario it could simply “run itself out”. Just like leaving your engine running, then.

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  • Economics

    Are green taxes funding offshore oil and gas exploration?

    23rd March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    Green taxes are meant to shift the burden of tax away from environmentally damaging activities like CO2 emissions or waste going to landfill, to environmentally good things like renewable energy and tackling fuel poverty. But arguably, the huge inflow of green taxes and levies, worth over £3billion in 2011-12 and more than double that by 2016-17, has made it possible for the Coalition to support a new round of offshore and gas exploration. As we blogged on Budget Day, the Chancellor announced a new £3 billion field allowance for” particularly deep fields with sizeable reserves targeted at the West of Shetland.”

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  • Economics

    Forget the green economy, this was a Budget for oil and gas

    21st March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    Budget 2012 witnessed the vanishing green economy. First, the Chancellor did not stint his support for fossil fuels, they receive over £3bn in new tax breaks. Second, he was “alert to the costs of renewables”, so no new support there to speak of. Third, a promise to lift the burden of the carbon tax for the largest service sector employers. Finally, green taxes will raise over £4.6bn, but we won’t see much of that spent on tackling fuel poverty or investing in green jobs and skills.

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  • Economics

    Budget 2012 – 5 Green markers

    21st March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    The fairground noise of pre-Budget publicity has masked a number of shifts in the greenest government ever. Like announcements slipped out over the weekend about new long-term support for fossil fuel power stations. So here are 5 green markers for today’s Budget:

    • No more anti-green rhetoric.
    • Boost support for renewable power industries.
    • Put the £billions in new green taxes to create jobs.
    • Recommit support for 4 carbon capture projects.
    • Tackle our rising carbon emissions.

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  • Economics

    National job creation programme needed to tackle 8m in fuel poverty

    16th March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

     The Hills Review proposes a new measure of fuel poverty exposes the inadequacy of government plans to improve home insulation.  According to the new Low Income/ High Cost (LIHC) index suggested by Professor John Hills,covering both number of people affected and the severity of the problem, 8 million people in England, in 2.7 million households, are in fuel poverty. They facd costs to keep warm that add up to £1.1 billion more than middle or higher income people with typical costs. Yet current government schemes targeting the energy efficiency of homes lived in by people with low incomes will only cut fuel poverty by a tenth by 2016, Hills concludes. 

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  • Environment

    Will Budget 2012 scrap more green policies?

    13th March 2012 — Filed under: Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    The Chancellor’s dictum that environmental regulation is bad for business is gaining hold. In the past few days, the Business Secretary is reported to have lobbied him to scrap the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) in the Budget. The CRC requires 20,000 large service sector employers to take their share of the energy savings.

    Now, a leaked DECC letter to the EU wants it to scrap binding renewables targets when phase 1 ends on 2020. “Renewables, nuclear and carbon capture and storage (should) all be competing freely against each other in the years to come,” DECC argues. Nothing is more likely to deter those who would invest in the new and innovative renewable projects than policy uncertainty.

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  • Economics

    Sharp boost for solar industry and HMT!

    9th March 2012 — Filed under: Economics, Environment

    Philip Pearson Philip Pearson

    DECC has revised its forecasts for solar power installations in the light of the success of the Feed-in Tariff  (FIT) and now expects some 3.3 million households to have installed solar panels by 2020, as against its earlier expectations of a few hundred thousand properties. According to Ofgem, about 240,000 homes and 4,000 businesses generate currently their own power from photovoltaic (PV) sources, worth £275 million in tax and other revenues to HMT. The new DECC data, not widely trumpeted it must be said, is to be found in the department’s impact assessment of its cut to the FIT subsidy, which took effect from 3 March 2012.

    The solar industry expects the cost of solar panels to fall as the market expands, and the various trades involved, from consultants and electricians to roofers and surveyors gain expertise in this growing industry.

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