More than 600 skilled, well-paid jobs have been pledged by companies across the region after a campaign led by the West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin.
The Mayor, who was elected as the region’s first Mayor a year ago, is now over halfway to meeting her target of 1,000 new green jobs by 2024.
She marked the milestone achievement with a visit to Halifax-based Eclipse Energy which specialises in helping provide affordable solutions to help cut household energy bills through measures such as insultation and solar panels.
Eclipse Energy has so far pledged to create 100 of the jobs, and is working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on its Better Homes Yorkshire programme which will see hundreds of households benefit from improved insultation and other energy saving measures.
The Mayor said: “One of my ten pledges to the people of our region was to create 1,000 new, skilled, well-paid jobs for young people in the green sector. As we work towards our ambition of creating a net zero carbon region by 2038, it is vital that West Yorkshire has the businesses that will enable that – and, vitally, people with the right skills, on the right career paths to drive forward the change.
“We know that large number of homes in our region are draughty, prone to damp and expensive to heat. Now, more than ever, we need to take action to improve energy efficiency and lower peoples’ bills.”
Daniel Cawdron, Director of Renewables at Eclipse, said: “The ongoing energy crisis has made our work more important than ever. Moving towards a goal of net zero in West Yorkshire is now as much about reducing bills and providing a good standard of living as it is about reducing emissions.
“We believe that West Yorkshire can be a national leader in the green sector, and it’s great to see all the work the Mayor and her team are doing for the region.”
To deliver her pledge, the Mayor has established the Green Jobs Taskforce which brings together experts from business, education and training, and the third and public sectors.
Its goal is to position West Yorkshire as a leader for green skills and jobs and set out a roadmap to deliver the skills and jobs needed to address the climate emergency.
