Don’t Risk Affordability, Prosperity And Security In Low-Carbon Energy Drive
GMB says: Don’t risk affordability, prosperity and security in low-carbon energy drive
‘Affordability, prosperity and security should not be risked in the drive to deliver a low-carbon energy system.’ That’s the message GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith will deliver this evening (Thursday 25 May) at the latest conversation held by the Centre for Energy Policy at the University of Strathclyde International Public Policy Institute.
The event, ‘Anyone out there know how to deliver a low carbon energy system’, is the fourth instalment in a series of events debating the difficult questions around evolving UK and Scottish energy strategy.
GMB Scotland will say that the roles of domestic gas and nuclear production in our energy mix should not be dismissed by policy makers if we want a genuinely just transition towards a low carbon economy.
Against a backdrop of rising fuel poverty, in-work poverty and dependence on imports, Scotland’s trade union for gas and utilities workers is calling for a pragmatic debate over our energy future on issues such as targets for fifty per cent of energy consumption to be supplied by renewable sources by 2030.
GMB Scotland Secretary Gary Smith said: “GMB supports a balanced energy policy that embraces all the viable indigenous options we have at our disposal to tackle our social inequalities while maximising prosperity and self-reliance as an energy nation.
That’s why gas and nuclear are not incompatible with the pursuit of a low carbon economy, indeed they should be key components in the transitional process over the next generation given the realities of Scotland’s current energy challenges.
One of the major issues facing policy makers is not ambition but pragmatism – we have to get the balance right between our social and economic energy needs while making our contribution to the overall reduction in global emissions.
Scotland’s targets on carbon reduction and renewable energy are laudable but affordability, prosperity and security of supply should not be risked in the drive to deliver a low carbon energy system.”
Ends
Contact: Peter Welsh, GMB Scotland Communications, on 07976 447077.
Notes to Editors:
- The Centre for Energy Policy present: the Energy Conversation series
‘Anyone out there know how to deliver a low carbon energy system?’ (Chaired by Alf Young), Thursday May 25 2017, 6:00pm-8:00pm (registration from 5:30pm), Technology and Innovation Centre, 99 George Street, Glasgow, G1 1RD.
- An Affordable And Prosperous Energy Future Without Gas Is ‘Pie In The Sky Politics’ – GMB Scotland Report: ‘Natural Gas in the Energy Policy of the UK and Scotland’, Tuesday 25 April 2017. Access at:
