On Monday we met with Cathy Calfo, Executive Director of the Apollo Alliance. Founded in 2003, the Alliance is a coalition of business, unions, environmental and community organisations driving the green jobs agenda over.  The aim is to literally put millions of Americans into high quality, green collar jobs.  Inspired by the Apollo space programme the power of the alliance is in drawing in investments in energy efficiency, clean power, mass transit, next generation vehicles and emerging technology as well as education.  The alliance convenes a national coalition, and also supports eighteen state and city-based “franchises” staffed and coordinated by a locally-based organization.

So what are the lessons for us here? Well firstly, we definitely have to work harder on the names we give our alliances and campaigns! Something inspiring that can capture the imagination of a nation seems to do the trick.

Each local alliance conducts an analysis of the opportunities in their area – where are the skills gaps and the emerging job markets? A powerful example from Cathy was taken from Pennsylvania where  a declining steel industry was turned into an opportunity by attracting the Mesa Steel company to use their old factories to produce wind turbines and employ local people.

Building alliances for a green recovery was the subject of the TUC’s conference back in October, and Cathy stresses that the key to keeping those alliances sustainable is in making compromises and being inclusive.  When considering a national transportation bill that is was about to come up for  review, to keep the unions on board it was essential that the alliance didn’t demand a decrease in funding for road-building, but demanded an  increase in spending overall for public transport.  Food for thought.

Business needs to be fully on board.  At every step of the process the alliance consults with all involved  but  what seems to be the key to success, and what is sadly lacking in the UK,  is the ability to tap into investment. Where the environmental  groups shied away from asking for too much, the Alliance looked at Obama’s stimulus bill as a “downpayment on Apollo”.  The amount of funding over here for green jobs simply dwarfs anything available to us in the UK.

What does excite me about the Apollo Alliance however  is its commitment to train the workforce to meet the demands of a low carbon world, to make sure that the transition to that low carbon world is just, creating pathways out of poverty and priotising good, family – supporting jobs.

The Alliance insists on a Made in America campaign. And America needs it .  Their  manufacturing industry has collapsed, (ring any bells?), and since 2008 they’ve lost 8 million jobs.  It’s about homegrown renewable industries – and the same goes for us.  We need to be investing in our own industries.

In Ohio, for instance, an Impact Bill has been pushed through which creates a loan fund for small to mid-size manufacturers incentivising clean tech development and energy efficiency.  We need this kind of strategy on a massive scale to protect our workforce in the energy intensive industries.

The alliance is also about to release a very exciting report, by Chris Bush, looking at the competitive advantages for inner cities in green job creation. I don’t want to steal their thunder but bookmark their website and keep an eye out for its publication.

UK businesses are wasting billions of pounds every year.  These are the findings from a Carbon Trust report published this week.  The report, The Business of Energy Efficiency, by the Carbon Trust’s  Advisory Service says that finance directors in large businesses are undervaluing the financial returns from energy saving by over a half.

Energy saving measures, such as upgrades to heating and lighting, energy policies and staff training could be saving businesses  at least £1.6bn every year.  I’ll just repeat that last bit, it’s important … Every Year.  

Energy efficiency may not be sexy, but with projected increases in energy prices can big business really continue to overlook such substantial savings?  After all, energy efficiency is where the jobs are.

Energy projects deliver, on average, a return on investment of 48%, four times the minimum level demanded by most senior finance officers and have a pay back of less than three years.  According to the report, that satisfies the investment requirements of eight out of ten finance directors.

Of course none of this is news to the TUC Green Workplaces projects around the UK where businesses and organisations are working in partnership with trade unions to improve energy efficiency and reduce the environmental impact of the workplace.   Our joint publication with the then BERR and the CBI from last year highlights one such green workplace, the British Museum, where our union green reps have helped make substantial financial savings.

Some employers are waking up to the benefits to be had from working with the recognised unions in their workplaces to ensure that financial savings from resource and energy efficiency ease the pressure on other costs and saves jobs.

But, if these findings from the Carbon Trust are anything to go by we need a UK wide network of green workplaces that can have a national impact on energy costs and carbon emissions.  Our projects have shown that union involvement can lead to business benefits through improved environmental performance.  How much longer do we have to keep screaming this from the rooftops before business sits up and takes notice and government gives our union green reps statutory time off to help employers engage with their staff and make a success of their green projects.

Meanwhile, the government is proposing to exempt nearly 12,000 information declarers from the much maligned Carbon Reduction Energy Efficiency Scheme.  Under the scheme’s current rules, in addition to the 3000 businesses fully participating in the CRC, around 11,500 UK organisations and businesses have registered  to make an information disclosure under the scheme.  It seems that smaller businesses and organisations may also be given the go ahead to continue overlooking the savings that can be made from basic energy management.

It was only last year that President Obama took a ribbing at home for proclaiming that energy efficiency  was sexy.  His words were “ Here’s what’s sexy about it – saving money”.  It’s hard to disagree.

Its main focus is encouraging people to take practical action through the networks they are involved in – workplaces, schools, communities.  The plan is for businesses, charities and voluntary organisations, councils, schools and others to run events during Climate Week, showcasing what can be achieved, sharing ideas and encouraging others to get active throughout the year.

Climate Week is the brainchild of social campaigner Kevin Steele and coordinated by a small London based team and judging from last night’s impressive turn out, the week is appealing to a wide range of organisations

Making the keynote speech last night, climate minister, Greg Barker, promised the Government would put the disappointment of COP15 behind them saying “It is clear Government can’t do it on its own, we need to reform, rethink and go forward with a new sense of purpose”.  Unsurprisingly, Mr Barker drew parallels between the aims of Climate Week and the coalition’s ideas for a Big Society.

Engaging with such large scale campaigns is indeed an important part of raising awareness of the power that individuals have when they act through their networks and take collective action to tackle the climate challenge we face.  But it’s crucial that we don’t lose sight of the large scale investment that’s needed to truly reduce emissions and secure a low carbon economic recovery.

So, can Climate Week, with its host of celebrity supporters, bring issues around climate change into everyone’s living room?  Can we open up the debate?  Let’s hope so.  People are influenced by commonly held views and by the media and we need to mainstream climate action and encourage high profile, highly visual campaigns.   The campaign is sponsored by household names, Tesco being the headline partner, and Aviva, RBS, Kellogg’s and EDF acting as supporting sponsors.  No doubt there are those observers who will take the stance that the week provides such corporate and banking giants with a proverbial green feather in their cap.

Nonetheless, Climate Week is supported by over 180 organisations and gives everyone else the chance to take some of the kind of mass action that thousands of union environmental reps are already engaging in week in, week out.  And that’s without our reps being granted the statutory rights to time off and training they so badly need.

Now, some statutory recognition for our environmental reps really could make a national impact on emission levels.

The CSR has introduced a fundamental change to the way the Carbon Reduction Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRCEES) will run.  The CRCEES is basically a cap-and-trade scheme covering approximately 3000 large energy users in the public and private sector.  Prior to today, all revenue raised by the annual sale or auction of allowances in the CRCEES, was set to be “recycled” back to scheme participants – a positive incentive to reduce emissions.  The more you reduce emissions, the bigger the proportion of the overall revenue raised from the scheme gets handed back to you.

But this is all set to change with revenue raised being handed straight over to the Treasury and used to shore up the public finances.  It’s expected to generate £715 million in 2010/11 rising to around £1billion once allowances are capped in April 2013.  How much of this will be set aside for investment in environmental measures (if any) is anyone’s guess.  No guarantees have been given.

The first introductory phase of the scheme runs from April 2010 to April 2013 with scheme participants reporting on their energy consumption.  From April next year, participants were set to purchase allowances to cover their emissions at a rate of £12 per tonne with revenue being recycled back six months later.  But now, under the CSR, this first emissions sale has been put back a year to 2012.

The Committee on Climate Change recently criticised the scheme’s revenue recycling process, pointing out the very real risk that funds from budget strapped councils, hospitals or schools, less able to invest in energy efficiency measures, could end up low in the league table and see their allowances recycled to higher ranking commercial companies.  This is a fair point, and separate league tables and revenue recycling for private and public bodies was recommended by the committee.

So while the CSR has put an end to that dilemma, there remains the danger that employers will associate environmental regulation as all stick and no carrot.  Further pressure on hard hit public and private sector service organisations provides even more of an excuse for employers to cite the scheme as a reason to cut jobs in order to save carbon.