UK industry is modernising for global competitiveness and lower climate impacts, but ensuring fairness in the process for affected workers and communities is often overlooked. Changes at the Port Talbot steelworks as it moves to new electric technology is leading to high job losses. But this impact could have been avoided with better planning and worker involvement in decisions well in advance of the changes being made.

In this policy insight, we draw on case studies of successful transitions to greener industry, allowing communities to thrive and avoiding job losses, focusing on planning for the decline of coal in Germany’s Ruhr region and greening Sweden’s steel industry. We highlight the reasons for their success and the lessons for UK industrial strategy.

Author

William Carr, policy analyst: wcarr@green-alliance.org.uk