PM seeks 'green' jobs boost

Action to protect the environment could also lead to the creation of 400,000 'green' jobs, Gordon Brown has said.

The prime minister's comments came at a summit to launch a government strategy setting out how the UK can take advantage of moves towards a low carbon economy.

Research published at the event predicts that 1.3 million people will be employed in the environmental sector by 2017.

The prime minister noted that a number of countries are including 'green' measures in their economic stimulus packages.

"We know that the more we are able to co-ordinate these measures internationally, the more confidence and certainty we will build and the more investment we will be able to bring forward," Brown said.

"That's why I want to create a global 'green new deal' that will pave the way for a low carbon recovery and to help us build tomorrow's green economy today."

And energy secretary Ed Miliband insisted that the move to low carbon "is now largely inevitable".

"What is not inevitable is that Britain benefits industrially from the transition. We want to mobilise every bit of expertise and ingenuity that Britain has to offer," he said.

"Moving to a low carbon economy is the way to secure the economic recovery and growth we need at home and take a lead internationally to protect the future of the planet."

But the Renewable Energy Association said that more could be done, and called for £625m in "green stimulus money" to be spent in the UK.

REA director-general Philip Wolfe said: "Other countries have already committed huge sums to renewables as part of their stimulus packages, not just because renewables tackle the twin threats of climate change and energy security, but because they also offer the technological stimulus needed in a recession to create high-value jobs and enterprise.

"It is vital for the UK to stage a sustainable economic recovery and our investment package is an essential first step towards that."

TUC deputy general secretary Frances O'Grady said that Germany already has half a million jobs in renewable energy, while the UK has 7,000.

"That must change with investment in taking the carbon out of energy generation and reducing energy use in the workplace, the home and transport," she said.