Starting salary up to £38,150 - 35 hours - London

You will lead an economics team which identifies and campaigns for economic changes to solve global to local environmental problems. You are an economics expert with a desire to work for a successful global grassroots organisation campaigning for environmental justice.

Closing date: 28 February 2010
Interview date: 10 March 2010

Senior Campaigners are a critical function within the organisation. They are the leading political strategists. They ensure that our campaigns are constantly alive to external world changes and are adapted accordingly. They carry out regular horizon-scanning to identify new opportunities and threats. In a constantly changing world they ensure that the political direction of the work remains on course.

They manage the staff within their units and work extremely closely with other senior campaigners. They play a leading role in representing the campaign to decision-makers, the media and the public.

Background

Friends of the Earth has a small economics team of 4 consisting of a Senior Campaigner and 3 Campaigners. It works across the organisation's campaigns but for the next two years is concentrating its efforts to deliver action on climate change.

Over recent years the economics team has:

• Convinced the Government to increase its estimate of the benefits of action on climate change, as well as shifting its use of carbon pricing in Government decisions away from using externalities and towards abatement costs to deliver the Climate Change Act.
• Successfully campaigned for the introduction of feed-in tariffs and a renewable heat incentive for renewable power despite strong opposition from parts of Government and the energy industry.
• Liaising with and influenced the reports and recommendations of the Committee on Climate Change, including on the size of carbon budgets.
• Provided evidence to Parliamentary Committees.
• Been a founding member of the Aldersgate Group which provides a umbrella for business, trade unions, NDPBs and others to develop progressive recommendations to Government on economic policy.
• Campaigned for a Green Investment Bank to provide finance and leverage extra finance for low carbon infrastructure and the renovation of the UK's housing stock

Over the next few years we continue to face significant challenges, including:

• A fixation on free-market approaches to solve environmental problems when the use of a fuller-range of policy measures would deliver greater change potentially at lower cost.
• The continuing pursuit of economic growth through unsustainable levels of consumption.
• The severe contraction of public spending to reduce the national debt.
• The failure of the UK (and other wealthy countries) to commit reduce its carbon budgets in line with the science.

Friends of the Earth needs to identify and campaign for credible economic solutions to overcome these challenges and help the UK contribute to a rapid transition to an economy that operates within environmental limits and respects environmental justice.

As part of the largest grassroots environmental organisation in the World we need to engage in strategic discussions by the Friends of the Earth International federation on the big economic challenges the planet faces.

Plans for 2010/11 are still being finalised, but work streams are likely to include:

• Carbon Budgets: Leading research and discussions on carbon budgets and contributing to our international, national and local campaigning on this. The research will involve answering questions on global temperature targets, acceptable level of risk, use of historic emissions, global apportionment regimes, inclusion or not of embedded emissions, the role of pragmatism in budget setting, plus possible compensation regimes for overuse of carbon budgets.
• Carbon Investment: Identification of and campaign for solutions, including regulation of the energy system, to help ensure the investment is secured in the UK and internationally to make the transition to clean, green low carbon economies.

With others in the organisation the team will consider how the organisation may be able to challenge the dominance of the consumer-driven economic growth model, identify credible solutions and campaign for them in alliance with others.

The role of Senior Campaigner

Senior Campaigners are a critical function within the organisation. They are the leading political strategists. They ensure that our campaigns are constantly alive to external world changes and are adapted accordingly. They carry out regular horizon-scanning to identify new opportunities and threats. In a constantly changing world they ensure that the political direction of the work remains on course.

They manage the staff within their units and work extremely closely with other senior campaigners. They play a leading role in representing the campaign to decision-makers, the media and the public.

For more information and application details please visit www.foe.co.uk/press_for_change/jobs/job_23010.html