PCS Workers for Climate Justice

Next week, PCS holds its national conference. A number of green motions are due to be heard there. We will report back on the environmental debates.

The NEC has now agreed that the 2026 Climate Change Week will be 9 to 13 November. As we develop our plans, we will post them here.

Each year since 2023, PCS has organised a Climate Change Week. These weeks have included online events, workplace activities, guidance for members and have demonstrated PCS’s ongoing commitment to climate issues.

Datacentres are consuming 6% of electricity in the UK and US, with the growing strain of AI on energy supplies prompting community resistance, according to research. theguardian.com/technology/202…

including the Climate Change Act 2008, as amended in 2019, the totalitarian 2023 Energy Bill when enacted and all related Orders'. Totalitarian no less! We oppose Reforms polices on renewables - and indeed most of their other policies.

The FT reports that Reform want to "ban battery energy storage systems — which underpin intermittent renewable energy systems — due to “safety concerns”. This is alongside, quoting from a Reform paper 'Reform UK will revoke all net zero legislation,

That is what “energy sovereignty” would look like'.

'Our energy politics simulates contention and conflict. But it avoids confronting the need to take responsibility – that means rapid state action, far beyond anything that the Labour government has proposed, in rolling out electrification at scale and pace.

🇪🇸 Spain's electricity in 2000: 56% fossil, 2% solar & wind. By 2026: 44% solar & wind, just 17% fossil. The crossover came in 2023. Gas now sets the price only 15% of the time vs 89% in Italy. More in my forthcoming Substack newsletter 👇 janrosenow.substack.com

🤯 Our bills pay for BP profits of £366 a SECOND “Politicians are letting them get away with blatant profiteering. "They need to start doing their job and protecting us from price hikes, or we’ll be paying the price of energy company greed yet again” mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/f…

The Welsh Conservatives in Wales focus on roads and motorists, with no universal bus fare cap, while Reform in Wales makes no commitments at all on bus fares or bus services in its Senedd manifesto.

Plaid Cymru supports capping bus fares, protecting concessionary free travel, and expanding bus services, with a strong focus on rural areas and access to schools, jobs and key services.

The Wales Green Party goes further on fares: £1 bus fares for most passengers and free travel for under‑22s, alongside expanded routes. Bus fares are framed as part of wider cost‑of‑living and climate action policies.

The Conservatives make no pledge to cut bus fares, focusing instead on roads, motorists and “reliability”. Reform UK makes no commitments on bus fares or affordability at all, and is silent on fare caps, concessions or free travel. No surprise there!

Labour in Scotland backs capped fares and integrated ticketing, and supports franchising local bus services—but does not commit to free bus travel or a £2 national fare cap.

As a transition, the Greens support a Scotland‑wide £2 fare cap, expanding free travel to under‑30s, and bringing more buses into public or community ownership, including through proposed “Scottish Bus Bonds”.

The Scottish Greens’ 2026 manifesto makes free bus travel for all residents a central pledge, framing it as both a cost‑of‑living measure and a key tool for cutting transport emissions.

The SNP says the £2 fare cap would reduce household costs and support a shift from car use to public transport. The approach retains private bus operators, with government subsidy to cover lost revenue, rather than moving to free bus travel for all.

The SNP’s 2026 Holyrood manifesto commits to a nationwide £2 cap on bus fares across Scotland, expanding on existing pilots in the Highlands and Islands and building on current concessionary travel for under‑22s, over‑60s and disabled people.

Nearly 2/3rds of public transport journeys in Scotland are by bus: over 300 million bus journeys a year. So buses are important for Scotland and for the environment. The more who switch to, or stay on buses, particularly if the buses are electric, then the better.