Archived press release

Fight climate change to create jobs, g8 summit told

3 April 1998

Fight climate change and create jobs. That's the message that Friends of the Earth International will deliver to G8 Environment Ministers at their meeting at Leeds Castle this Friday (3 April 1998).

Campaigners will stage a demonstration at Ashford Railway Station at 5pm when the Ministers arrive by Eurostar for the three-day summit. The summit will the first time they have discussed climate change commitments since the Kyoto Climate Summit in December 1997.

The fossil fuel lobby has been scaremongering about massive job losses from action on climate change. But Friends of the Earth has shown that measures to cut carbon dioxide(CO2) can boost employment. For example, action in the UK to achieve Labour's General Election target of a 20% cut in CO2 emissions by 2010 could create 226,000 new jobs in the renewable energy, energy efficiency, combined heat and power and public transport sectors [1] Other studies show the considerable job creation potential in these sectors across the globe [2].

The G8 Environment Ministers will discuss how to implement the greenhouse gas cuts agreed under last year's Kyoto Protocol. FOE has shown that measures to create jobs and cut emissions can cost nothing if the burden of tax is shifted from labour to polluting processes [3]. Fossil fuel companies must begin to invest in renewable energies and efficient technologies to create new jobs.

Commenting, Tony Juniper, Campaigns Director of Friends of the Earth said:

“Despite mounting evidence, governments have failed to see that tackling climate change can not only save the environment but also create jobs. Ministers at Leeds Castle must ignore the scaremongering from the fossil fuel dinosaurs and agree on urgent steps to implement the Kyoto Protocol.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

[1] Fighting Dangerous Climate Change: CO2 Cuts = 226,000 New Jobs, FOEI Climate change Briefing 5,September 1997, available on request.

[2] Reaping the Double Dividend - Climate Change and Jobs, FOEI Climate Change Briefing 2, June 1997,available on request.

[3] FOE Budget Briefing 1998 contains a green Budget package, tested on the authoritative Cambridge Econometrics MDM-E3 (economy - energy - environment) model. It showed that green tax package could raise up to £28 billion a year by the year 2010, and could be spent on improved public transport, home energy efficiency, and reductions in employers' National Insurance contributions. The result could be to create almost 400,000 new jobs by 2010, and contribute a 7% cut in CO2 emissions towards the Government's 20% target.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust