Speaking at the Institute of Sustainability and Environmental Professionals (ISEP) and Broadway Initiative’s annual reception in London, Miliband stressed that the green transition must be “fair for families today, and fair for families in the future.”
He received a rousing applause after congratulating the organisers, before hailing the “incredible diversity” of the climate movement as he addressed over 100 representatives from government, business, finance, and civil society; adding: “We are in the better-lives-today business, not just the disaster-avoidance-tomorrow business.”
"Some of our opponents want to cast us back, and say it's too expensive to act – we have to take on this story of despair," he continued. "Martin Luther King Jr didn’t say ‘I have a nightmare’, he said ‘I have a dream’. People respond to hope and a vision of a better future, and this is the economic opportunity of the 21st century.
“We are the generation that has this unique responsibility and unique opportunity, and I believe in this extraordinary coalition, which is far, far wider than we might think.”
Speaking directly to business leaders, he added: “What you are doing is a brilliant antidote to that story of despair, creating jobs and showing the opportunity of the clean energy economy, because people can see what is actually happening in their local town or city.
“There's nothing more inspiring for me than seeing young apprentices embracing the clean energy revolution, or what's happening on Teesside with net zero. Bringing these tangible benefits to people is absolutely crucial."
The event marked the publication of Sector Transition Plan guidance from the Net Zero Council, which provides a blueprint for each major sector to co-create a shared vision and pathway to net zero, supported by finance and policy frameworks.
Miliband said: “We welcome this guidance which will help businesses and investors identify what needs to be done, where investment is needed, and how we can work together to make the British people better off through homegrown, clean power."
ISEP CEO Sarah Mukherjee MBE explained how the plans will ensure the UK is taking a “coordinated, whole-economy approach to the challenge of achieving net zero”.
She continued: “We need to focus on capacity building throughout the workforce in every sector, so we have the skills to drive the net-zero transition across the whole economy.
“Our ambition should be to weave green competences throughout the workforce and make ‘all jobs greener’ – much in the way digital skills spread across entire organisations in previous decades.
“Moreover, workers from existing sectors such as oil and gas can bring huge value in terms of their transferable skills, to ensure a just and efficient net-zero transition.”
Climate Change Committee CEO Emma Pinchbeck and Confederation of British Industry CEO Rain Newton-Smith also spoke at the event, with the latter stressing that green energy is the “greatest job creation opportunity in a generation”.
On communicating climate action with the general public, Pinchbeck told Transform: “What we're seeing in politics is people reflecting that they're worried about the cost of living; they're worried about energy prices.
“We've got to make the case to people about why we're doing this in the long run, and tie it up to things people care about. But we should do it in the least-cost, most-efficient, fairest way possible, and that's one of the reasons we say cheap electricity should be the number one target for government."
Chris Seekings is the Deputy Editor of ISEP’s Transform magazine, which is published biomonthly for ISEP members. Chris’s role involves writing sustainability-related news, features and interviews, as well as helping to plan and manage the magazine’s other day-to-day activities.
