Following Thursday's dramatic announcement of a revolution in Britain’s energy policy to boost low-carbon technology, Mark will be participating in a major new inquiry into green jobs.

Ed Miliband set out plans to build four new coal plants fitted with Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology to capture the carbon emissions they produce and store them underground. They promise to make Britain a world-leader in the field and create up to 50,000 new jobs. One of the plants will be sited in the Firth of Forth.

This makes the inquiry which will be carried out by the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee extremely timely. Mark is a member of the Committee but he has also been arguing independently for the Government to act swiftly to create new green jobs for the unemployed.

Mark said:

“Yesterday’s announcement is great news both for Britain’s industrial future and for the battle against climate change.

We need a ‘Green New Deal’ to provide jobs – both immediately and long-term - for those who face unemployment as a result of the recession. New green industries must be a vital part of our industrial strategy.”

The committee will be looking at

• how Government policies can create jobs in environmental industries
• what kind of jobs they will be
• how we can equip people with the skills to fill the jobs that will be created

The Government clearly seems to be listening to the ideas that people like Mark and NGOs are putting forward. Britain will be the first country in the world to make it compulsory for new coal-fired plants to fit Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS).

This comes on top of Wednesday’s budget which announced funding for the creation of 10,000 new green jobs as part of a Government guarantee of either employment or training for every 18 – 24 year old out of work for12 months. There will also be an extra £405 million to support low-carbon industries and a boost for off-shore wind energy.

To read Ed Miliband’s statement to the House of Commons on coal and carbon capture and storage, click here.

For Mark’s speech on green jobs in the Commons debate on the Budget, click here and to read Mark's article on the same subject which was published on the Guardian's Environmental website, click here.

For more information about the inquiry, contact Hannah Pearce at the Environmental Audit Committee on 020 7219 8430 or pearcehm@parliament.uk