See also – Birmingham Green New Deal scheme is nowup and running – following the city’s Cabinet approval at the end of January!
Localise West Midlands and several informal partner organisations are looking at the opportunities for the region of supporting and following a Green New Deal approach.
The global economy is facing a ‘triple crunch’; a combination of credit-fuelled financial crisis, accelerating climate change and soaring energy prices underpinned by an encroaching peak in oil production. (Recent falls in energy prices reflect the economic downturn and hide the long term trends). The scale of this situation clearly demonstrates the need for fresh and innovative intervention and change.
The Green New Deal proposes a range of financial and economic measures to tackle these joint crises. Many of the financial measures would require national or international action and so are beyond the immediate scope for implementation in this region.
What is more immediately possible in the West Midlands is to undertake a massive programme of energy efficiency/renewables infrastructure development to revitalise the economy – also following Stern report recommendations – using public spending to invest in our future as well as to help us out of the recession. As well as public spending this would include investigating new (and old) mechanisms to provide opportunities for secure, stable investment for savings and pensions. We see the starting point for this energy efficiency and renewables infrastructure as being insulation/renewables measures for homes and businesses, but this could also include public transport investment, investment in local food supply chains and a wide number of other elements.
In the West Midlands we are particularly well placed to trial this approach:
- We have the excellent low carbon economy commitments of the Regional Economic Strategy, which the GND approach would build on and take further.
- There are many local firms, social enterprises and community initiatives already engaged with energy efficiency work which could be brought in to deliver some of this: as the more financial sections of the GND report make clear, the participation of local enterprise and the job creation, ‘local multiplier’ and social glue that it brings to the region is an essential aspect of its potential success.
- The Green New Deal is not a rigid blueprint with all the answers already available, but it is at least a directional route map for both energy and economic security.
Progress so far:
Following two meetings, in November and January, to discuss a West Midlands version of the Green New deal, LWM is working with various organisations – energy social enterprises, public bodies, trades unions representatives and regeneration organisations – to put forward proposals for pilot schemes that deliver jobs, training, investment opportunities and low carbon transition activities such as insulation programmes. We would be interested to hear from any energy-related social enterprises, NGOs or small businesses in the West Midlands region who may be interested in implementation.
The following organisations are in principle committed to investigating these ideas with us:
Be Birmingham
Birmingham Sustainable Energy Partnership
Castle Vale Community Housing Association
Friends of the Earth West Midlands
Jericho Foundation
Localise West Midlands
Marches Energy Agency
New World Solar
Regen WM
Sustainability West Midlands
Sustainable Housing Action Programme
Whittington & Fisherwick Environment Group
We also continue to publicise the principles by which we think a sounder economy can be shaped to economic fora across the region.
We also ran a seminar with Sustainability West Midlands for economic development officers on the Green New Deal approach to tackling worklessness.
West Midlands Green New Deal Prospectus (pdf)
To get involved or be kept in touch with this please contact us (see link in left margin) and revisit this website where we hope to post regular updates.