Solutions

Create devolved ‘just transition’ funds

Government should devolve a proportion of its Green New Deal budget to support local just transition plans.

Addressing the ecological emergency can also help address the inequality crisis. Making the Green New Deal fair and driving its benefits into the places that most need them must be an explicit, legislative aim of a Green New Deal. In particular, places should be empowered to find their own routes to transition.

As part of the process of managing industrial change fairly, national government should devolve a proportion of its Green New Deal budget to new combined authorities to support their just transition plans. Of the 2% of GDP for a Green New Deal that the government should commit in its first budget, one-quarter (which would be around £10 billion in 2019/​20 terms) should be devolved to regional authorities in the first year, rising to half in year three.

As well as supporting regional capital investment via just transition plans, these funds would include resources for the reskilling of workers and paid time off to retrain, for education and to take part in the just transition process. This idea is based on the German ​‘short-time work compensation schemes’ where employers are supported with public funds to avoid unnecessary redundancies by temporarily reducing working hours to meet reduced output requirements, with wages maintained.

Central government must also disaggregate the national carbon budget to regions, which in the first instance would afford more emissions space to places that are currently dependent on higher carbon emissions. All regions would be obliged to reduce emissions in accordance with the national trajectory, but would have autonomy over how they achieved this, within the wider aims of the Green New Deal.

Tags Urgent green transition Active state

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Key documents

Policy in practice

Projects that demonstrate the benefits or may be helped by polices like this.

  • Sovereign Harbour
    Threatened by corporate developers, a fishing community took control of their harbour.
  • YnNi Teg
    YnNi Teg develops and builds renewable energy generators in Wales, funded by community shares.
  • B4RN: Broadband for the Rural North
    Not-for-profit community benefit society provides one of the world's fastest broadband services.
  • Schools’ Energy Co-operative
    Schools’ Energy Co-operative has installed solar panels on schools across the country, working with a network of local groups.
  • Homebaked
    Residents saved their iconic neighbourhood bakery and transformed it into a thriving community run-business.
  • Space4
    Space4 is a co-working space for social enterprises and worker co-operatives in the digital tech sector.
  • The Larder
    This workers' co-operative connects local growers with businesses in the fightback against food poverty.
  • Hackney Energy
    Hackney Energy works with residents to build community-owned solar power.
  • Marine Dream Hub
    Coastal hub brings together marginalised communities to make the most of their marine environment and boost their local economy.
  • North Ayrshire Community Wealth Building
    Scotland’s first community wealth building strategy aims to spread prosperity in an area with historically high poverty rates.