The Welsh Liberal Democrats will use their party debate time today to set out why the Labour-Plaid government’s Green Jobs Strategy for Wales is just a tick in the box exercise for the One Wales delivery programme. They will also make clear why Wales needs to be promoting a green economy and building a sustainable future.
The Green Jobs Strategy – ‘Capturing the Potential’- was launched in 2009 after much dithering, with no baseline figures against which to measure progress and no set of indicators of how to measure growth and development. In addition, the Deputy First Minister’s recent change in direction for Wales’ economic development makes light the importance of creating a green, sustainable economy.
One of the four main priorities for the Liberal Democrats these coming months will be to build a fair and sustainable economy that creates jobs.
We’ve been calling for this strategy since 2006 and after finally realising the advantages of creating a green and sustainable economy, they come up with a weak strategy that has no baseline figures against which to measure progress and no set of indicators to measure growth and development.
The Deputy First Minister’s recent economic development policy turn also casts a shadow over the green jobs strategy as it makes little reference to building a sustainable and green economy. By the time the Economic Renewal Programme will have finished its consultation, there will only be a few months until the Assembly election.
For years, the Welsh government has been dithering over implementing this sort of strategy when Wales could have been leading the charge in the fight against climate change and protecting jobs during the recession. Wales has to compete on a global scale so we must claim our niche which is our natural advantages.
Going green isn’t about extra regulation, nor is it about being worthy do-gooders. Going green is an economic opportunity, and needs to be sold to business that way. It is a chance for our companies in Wales to cut costs, to expand in to new markets, and beef up our economy to match the best of the rest in Europe.
By promoting green jobs, we are promoting the economy and building a brighter future for Wales.
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Go green, sadly go green how, when we do it goes wrong down the line.