With the UK economy in a frightening decline, environmental concerns can easily get sidelined. Is it possible to rebuild our financial systems and deal with the environmental crisis at the same time? SARAH LEWIS explores how Brighton and Hove is pioneering the Green New Deal.

We have to pick one or two realistic projects to start with,” says Martin Grimshaw. “Then we can start to explore how to get the Green New Deal (GND) working on the ground.”

Martin heads up Livelihoods 2020, which is a part of the environmental community group Transition Brighton and Hove, set up to explore ways for developing an environmentally and financially sustainable local economy.

“The authors [of GND] have said they want Brighton to be the testing ground,” he adds.

That they have picked Brighton will not come as much of a surprise to many. Hotly tipped as the city to have the first Green Party parliamentary seat and in second place on the green city index drawn up by sustainable development charity Forum For The Future, we are very well placed to make the Green New Deal succeed. So what is it exactly?

The GND aims to tackle the “triple crunch” of climate, oil and credit. Essentially, it says a massive investment in green collar workers, renewable energy and “environ- mental transformation” will create thousands of jobs and simultaneously help to meet our environmental targets and create better financial resilience in the face of the current credit situation.

The New Economics Foundation (NEF) authors include, among others, South East MEP Caroline Lucas, NEF policy director Andrew Simms, Jeremy Leggett of SolarAid and Tony Juniper, former director of Friends Of The Earth. Between them they have forumlated a plan which has been picked up worldwide.

Green Party councillor Bill Randall is pushing the case for the GND in Brighton and Hove. He took a motion to the council calling for the development of green industries in the city and he chairs the Culture, Tourism and Enterprise scrutiny committee, which is currently collecting evidence to evaluate the benefits, or otherwise, of bringing this project to the city.

He says: “All the political parties are signed up to it. What we are proposing was passed unanimously by the council, so this is not a party political issue. David Cameron has talked about it, Labour and the Lib Dems. Barack Obama in the US is saying the same thing. The Germans were quick off the mark and now they are miles ahead. They have 125,000 green collar jobs already.”

The United Nations Environment Programme has called for a green economy initiative, and Japan and South Korea have announced plans for a similar project.

The opportunities do seem golden. Despite serious financial problems elsewhere and with the crushing disappointment of Alistair Darling’s pre-budget report in November 2008 (lots about new motorways and cheaper fuel, little on renewables or energy efficiency), the Government’s new industry strategy, published last September, promised almost £150 million support for the development of a low carbon economy.

The potential for creating new jobs is huge, and at a time when so many people are being made redundant, it is also very timely. The Brighton and Hove City Employment Skills plan 2008/2011, states 16,000 jobs need to be created in the next ten years in order to fulfil aims of 80% employment.

Bill says: “It’s estimated if you reduce the carbon footprint of Europe by 20%, you will create one million jobs in green industries. That being the case, why shouldn’t Brighton and Hove have some of those jobs?

“The great thing about green jobs is they go right across the work spectrum. At one end we have people at universities doing research and development, moving on to engineering and design and then to producing parts for wind turbines and insulation. It goes all the way to people who then install and fit all these things.”

However, it isn’t just the city’s environmental aspirations that make Brighton and Hove such a hot spot for testing the Green New Deal.

Creative industries have thrived here, thanks in part to support from the city council and Wired Sussex, a non-profit organisation that helps digital media companies flourish.

Bill says: “We have 16,000 people working in creative industries here. They account for 10% of the city’s workforce and 20% of the companies. We have got to the point now where we have a critical mass of skills in that area, which attracts people and business to the city. We’ve got Disney’s Black Rock Studio, their only design studio in Europe. Let’s do the same thing with green businesses.”

When it comes to the mechanisms needed to drive a low-carbon economy, fears that going green will cost industry too dearly seem completely unfounded, particularly as the economic crises provides such a clear and open opportunity to rewrite the rules.

Both Bill and Martin Grimshaw insist it is a “win win win” situation. People are needed to develop, manufacture and install insulation, for example, which at the same time tackles unemployment, climate changing emissions and fuel poverty.

Martin says: “There has been a huge amount of work done behind the scenes on what needs to be done. Now we have to work out how we are going to make it happen.

“We are very keen on some kind of green business hub, like a green Wired Sussex, and we are looking at local authority premium bonds where the money is invested in green, infrastructure.

“Much of the Green New Deal is taking another look at the way we use money. There is lots of money in this city, let’s redirect it to do some real good.”

  • Speakers from the New Economics Foundation will be discussing “Building More Resilient Local Economies” at a public talk on Thursday, February 26, 7.30 – 9.45pm, at the Brighthelm Centre, North Road, Brighton.