Nick at today’s Earth Hour event in Parliament

Nick Brown lent his support to the WWF’s Earth Hour initiative at an event held in Westminster today. WWF is calling on individuals, businesses, iconic landmarks and local authorities to sign up to switch off their lights for one hour to show they care about people and wildlife threatened by climate change. 

As Minister for the North East Nick has worked hard to shape the regional economy around renewable energy. From plans for clean coal at Lynemouth and electric cars at Nissan to our own wind farm factory on the banks of the Tyne, the North East is setting a lead in initiatives to help combat climate change.

But we need to make changes on an individual level as well. Campaigns like Earth Hour can make a real difference, and safeguard our planet for future generations.

Nick with Prime Minister Gordon Brown at the site of the new Clipper factory

Nick joined the Prime Minister in Walker yesterday as global energy giants Clipper Windpower confirmed their plans to bring a windfarm factory to the banks of the Tyne. As Minister for the North East Nick has worked hard to promote the Region as a centre for green industries. That work is now getting results, with this announcement expected to provide more than 500 local jobs on the site of the old Neptune Yard.

Nick said: “This is the start of a whole new industry for east Newcastle. It will provide secure employment for generations to come and put our community at the forefront of new green technologies. This is a great example of the public and private sector working together.”

Aided by the Labour Government’s recent announcements of increased wind energy grants and further off-shore sites for windfarms, these developments are not just good news for employment in our area, they are good news for the planet as a whole.

Nick visiting the site of Tyneside proposed "windfarm factory" earlier this year

Nick Brown has welcomed today’s announcement of Government funding for a scheme to build the world’s biggest wind turbines  in Walker. The Department for Energy and Climate Change’s move to award a £4.4m grant to American green energy firm Clipper Windpower has been hailed as a key step in the rebirth of the shipyards on the banks of the River Tyne.

Clipper plan to manufacture the turbines in a purpose-built factory currently under construction in Newcastle’s East End, which will lead to around a 1000 jobs being created.

Newcastle East MP Nick Brown said: “This is pioneering work supported by Government and set to be carried out in the North East of England. This is welcome support for a new industry in our Region, potentially creating more than a 1000 jobs.”

Further details are in today’s Journal.

“I am really inspired by what I have seen this afternoon. I do feel the North- East could become a world leader in the electric vehicle market.

“We should embrace it. There are plans for recharging points right across the region. We could roll it out quickly and there is support and interest from the local authorities.”

Full story in the Northern Echo here.

In welcome news for the North East, Ed Miliband cited Teesside amongst only three other named locations as a suitable site for a new carbon capture and storage cluster. Whilst there was good news for other sites, most notably Northumberland, when he said that he was not ruling out other locations.

This is a great regional opportunity for the North East with studies suggesting that carbon abatement technologies could sustain 50,000 jobs by 2030.

Carbon Capture and storage would trap CO2, transporting it and locking it permanently underground in a place such as the North Sea, thus reducing emissions by 90%. This technology has a significant part to play in helping us achieve our 2020 CO2 reduction targets.

There is currently a competition underway for the first end-to-end demonstration in the world, covering capture, transport and storage. Yesterday’s budget provides funding for up to three more and the government wants them to be a mixture of pre and post-combustion.

This came in addition to the announcement from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling, who in yesterday’s budget provided further support for the offshore wind industry. This was welcomed in Tyneside where there are developed plans for thousands of ‘green’ jobs in the establishment of a new manufacturing centre on the north bank of the River Tyne.

Nick Brown MP said: “This is welcome news. It reaffirms the North East’s position at the heart of leading the drive for green technology and low carbon electricity generation.

“We have a scheme which is well advanced and has the advantage of being next door to the North Sea where the capture and storage would take place.”

Nick Brown, the Government Chief Whip and Minister for the North-East, replied: “I will do everything I can to make sure we don’t go back to mass unemployment. Windpower is the only renewable energy source that you can easily get to market. There’s a very good claim for it to be offshore because everybody agrees with it, but nobody wants it next to their house.”

He predicted “the greatest change in the employment base since the decline of shipbuilding” would occur on the north bank of the Tyne where there are plans for a turbine building industry.

“Jobs will be in their thousands and they will endure not just for one generation but two and beyond, as then advances in wavepower will be developed.”

Full article can be found here.

A planning application to build a wind turbine manufacturing plant at the former Neptune shipyard, in Walker, was today being lodged with Newcastle city council. The factory will create an initial 500 jobs, with thousands more to follow when it kicks into action.

Nick Brown said: “This is the birth of a new industry on the Tyne. The Governments policy on tackling climate change is clear. We need to diversify our energy generation from carbon to renewable technologies like wind.”

Further details in today’s Chronicle here.

When the Bill was initially drafted the emissions cuts target was set at 60%. However, in view of the ever-improving science in this area, and following extensive discussions with experts and members of the public, as well as the results of the independent Commission on Climate Change, the Government has moved to commit the UK to aiming even higher. The target now enshrined in legislation, for the first time anywhere in the world, is for an 80% cut by 2050.

Other measures in the Bill include a commitment to reaching international agreement on a framework for including aviation and shipping in these targets; mandatory emissions publishing by corporations from 2012; and the imposition of emissions reduction targets on electricity generators.

The credit crunch has meant that at the moment people are concerned about their jobs, their homes, and their standard of living. In preparing our national economy for financial change we can also shape it to meet environmental challenges. There is great potential for employment within the renewable energy technology sector, and I am working to make sure that is true on Tyneside as much as anywhere else in the country.

The Climate Change Bill is a good step in the right direction. Together with recent developments in energy market policy, further measures to be announced on feed-in tariffs, and the recent creation of the country’s first-ever Department for Energy and Climate Change, we are working towards a truly sustainable and world leading energy policy.

In the North East we’ve already felt the effects with the difficulties at Northern Rock. The action which the Government took to address those difficulties was the right one, as recent events in America bear out.

The challenge for Government now is not to pretend that Britain can avoid the effects of the international situation altogether – no country can. We have to help our country through tough times and make sure that we are in a good position to build for the future when financial markets have stabilised. The Government, led by a Prime Minister who has first hand experience of the global economy from a decade as Chancellor, is well-placed to meet the twin challenges of the credit crunch and rising commodity prices.

Two weeks ago the Government announced a new £1bn package to help families on middle and lower incomes permanently cut what they pay for their energy. It includes new measures to help with insulating houses and using fuel efficiently.

This links with the great global challenge of our times, the need to fight climate change. This is a problem which can only be faced by working together internationally, but our region can take a lead. By placing the North East of England at the forefront of the drive to develop renewable energy technology we will create new jobs in a growing sector.

I am making the case strongly for these new opportunities to be available to workers in the North East.

Continuing to strengthen the region’s employment base should be the key objective for the North East in these turbulent times.