Will the PM’s net zero strategy really create ‘good jobs, green jobs, well-paid jobs’?
Boris Johnson claims his plans to cut carbon emissions will help create 440,000 jobs by 2030

“We can build back greener, without so much as a hair shirt in sight.” So said the Prime Minister, in his typically ebullient introduction to the Government’s strategy for reaching net-zero greenhouse emissions.
On the one hand, we should be glad that the Government has finally published the plan, said Andrew Grice in The Independent. The bad news is that it is light on detail, and heavily reliant on Boris Johnson’s trademark “it will be all right on the night” approach.
He promises that the target can be achieved by promoting the development of wind power, hydrogen power, electric vehicles, and carbon capture and storage. These initiatives will transform the economy, he says, and help create 440,000 jobs by 2030; and by 2050, “in every part of our United Kingdom, there will be jobs. Good jobs, green jobs, well-paid jobs, levelling up our country while squashing down our carbon emissions.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This is the “holy grail” of climate action, said Philippa Nuttall in the New Statesman: managing the transition to net zero in such a way that new jobs and industries spring up to replace those lost as a result of the decarbonising process. But is this something the UK is well-placed to navigate?
I don’t see why not, said Stephen Pollard in the Daily Express. We have a strong “science base” in this country, and our Covid vaccine success shows what we can achieve when our world-leading researchers collaborate with industry. We just need to put more money into research and development.
The transition to a low-carbon economy will certainly generate new employment opportunities, said Sarah O’Connor in the FT, but not all of these “green” jobs will be that desirable, or boost productivity. Recycling is a case in point: the “rate of fatal injuries in the waste and recycling sector is 17 times higher than the average across all industries”.
And though insulating lofts will require lots of labour, said Emma Duncan in The Times, these will be unskilled jobs involving a one-off effort. As for the idea that we can create a mass of new jobs from manufacturing wind turbines and other green equipment, experience suggests we’ll always struggle to compete with low-cost labour in Asia. Yes, our researchers may devise “whizzo, as-yet-unimagined technologies” to help turn the PM’s “hot air into electricity”, but even that’s unlikely to generate many jobs outside the Southeast.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
If the Government is taking climate change more seriously, that’s a good thing, but make no mistake: the path to net zero, on which we have barely embarked, will be tough. We’re not about “to launch ourselves into a shiny, green, high-tech future”.
-
China's Xi hosts Modi, Putin, Kim in challenge to US
Speed Read Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Asian leaders at an SCO summit
-
6 products and apps to help fight jet lag
The Week Recommends Don't let travel fatigue drag you down
-
September 2 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include Labor Day redefined, an exodus from the CDC, and Donald Trump shouting down rumors
-
Lisa Cook and Trump's battle for control the US Fed
Talking Point The president's attempts to fire one of the Federal Reserve's seven governor is represents 'a stunning escalation' of his attacks on the US central bank
-
'Three Pads' Rayner: a housing hypocrite?
Talking Point As real estate moguls go, the Deputy PM is 'hardly Donald Trump'
-
America: Are we now living in an autocracy?
Feature 200 days into his presidency and Trump is still deepening his authoritarian grip
-
Red states join in Trump's D.C. crackdown
Feature 1,200 troops arrive in Washington D.C. from six red states
-
Pomp but little progress at Trump's Ukraine talks
Feature Trump's red carpet welcoming for Putin did little to advance a peace deal with Ukraine
-
Judges: Threatened for ruling against Trump
Feature Threats against federal judges across the U.S. have surged since Donald Trump took office
-
The census: Why Trump wants a new one
Feature Donald Trump is pushing for a 'Trumpified census' that excludes undocumented immigrants
-
Voting Rights Act: Dying a slow death
Feature 60 years after it was signed into law, the Voting Rights Act is being gutted by Republicans and the Supreme Court