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Framework development for 'just transition' in coal producing jurisdictions
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The rhetoric of the 'just transition' lies at the heart of energy and development policies internationally. In this context, it is crucial that communities dependent on fossil fuel extraction and production for employment do not become 'victims' of the decarbonisation process. This paper involves a theoretically and conceptually grounded comparative analysis of policy measures that have been introduced in three first world jurisdictions which have been dependent on coal for employment-North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany, Alberta in Canada and Victoria in Australia. In so doing, measures which have successfully ameliorated the socioeconomic well-being of coal dependent communities are identified and a framework for successful just transition is proposed. Recognising, but notwithstanding, inherent power dynamics, the framework identifies an important role for government in assisting workers and communities in navigating the transition process and in supporting new and emerging low-carbon industries in the context of 'strong' sustainable development.
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... 'Just transition' intervention will go a long way in addressing the needs of the residents of regions where coal-fired power plants or coalmines are being closed (del Guayo and Cuesta, 2022). Research stemming from the Ruhr (Germany) and Victoria (Australia) highlights the potential of just transition policies to alleviate the negative impacts of climate policies (Galgóczi, 2019;Harrahill and Douglas, 2019). That said, the idea of a just transition has remained mostly confined to coal-dependent and mining regions, both at the EU and national levels. ...
The impacts of climate change are unevenly distributed across territories. Less is known about the potential effects of climate policies aimed at mitigating the negative consequences of climate change while transitioning economies towards low-carbon standards. This paper presents an analytical framework for identifying and assessing the regional impacts of the green transition. We develop a Regional Green Transition Vulnerability Index, a composite measure of the regional vulnerability of European regions to the socio-economic reconfigurations prompted by the green transition. The index brings to light strong regional variations in vulnerability, with less developed, peri-urban and rural regions in Southern and Eastern Europe more exposed to the foreseeable changes brought about by the green transition. We also draw attention to the potential rise of pockets of growing ‘green’ discontent, especially if the green transition contributes, as is likely to be the case, to leaving already left-behind regions further behind.
... There is an opportunity to broaden the concept further by addressing the environmental impacts of such processes. This has emerged in recent literature where both indirect and direct employment effects have been connected to observations on broader environmental impacts of fossil industries (Harrahill and Douglas, 2019;Cha et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2020). The inadequacies of post-mining environmental restoration have led to scholars using just transition as a framework to analyse the inequalities experienced by local people in relation to their physical environment (Weller, 2019). ...
... There is an opportunity to broaden the concept further by addressing the environmental impacts of such processes. This has emerged in recent literature where both indirect and direct employment effects have been connected to observations on broader environmental impacts of fossil industries (Harrahill and Douglas, 2019;Cha et al, 2020;Shen et al, 2020). The inadequacies of post-mining environmental restoration have led to scholars using just transition as a framework to analyse the inequalities experienced by local people in relation to their physical environment (Weller, 2019). ...
Die Transformation von Kohleregionen betrifft neben der Bundesrepublik viele weitere europäische Länder. Auf Grundlage der Forschungsliteratur zum Wandel europäischer Kohlereviere diskutiert das Heft verschiedene Dimensionen der Auswirkungen des Strukturwandels und gibt einen Überblick über Strategien und Maßnahmen zur Bewältigung des Strukturwandels. Die unterschiedlichen Dimensionen bedeuten für die Regionalentwicklung umfangreiche Herausforderungen, für deren Bewältigung die Perspektive der „Just Transitions“ konzeptionelle, aber auch konkrete förderpolitische Anregungen liefern kann. „Just Transitions“ stellen das Thema Gerechtigkeit, beispielsweise in Hinblick auf bestimmte Regionen, Personengruppen oder der Umwelt, in den Mittelpunkt der Diskussion. Sie stehen damit für eine Erweiterung der bisherigen Perspektive des Strukturwandels um weitere Akteure und deren Interessen. Die Transformation der deutschen Braunkohlereviere kann damit von den Erfahrungen anderer europäischer Regionen sowie vom Ansatz der „Just Transitions“ profitieren.
National and global mitigation scenarios consistent with 1.5°C require an early phase-out of coal in major coal-dependent countries, compared to standard technical and economic lifetimes. This appears particularly apparent in the light of recent massive investments in coal power capacity, the significant pipeline of coal power capacity coming online, as well as upstream supporting infrastructure. This article analyses the existing and planned capital stock in the coal power sector in the light of scenarios consistent with 1.5°C. The article analyses the political economy and labour aspects of this abrupt and significant transition, in the light of domestic equity and development objectives. Firstly, the article examines employment issues and reviews the existing literature and practice with support schemes for regional and sectoral structural adjustment for the reduction of coal sector activity. Secondly, the paper surveys the domestic political economy of coal sector transition in major coal using countries, namely Australia, South Africa, China and India. A final section provides conclusions and policy recommendations.
Key policy insights
• Achieving mitigation pathways in line with limiting warming to 1.5°C, or even well-below 2°C, would require the early retirement of coal sector assets in production and consumption.
• Historically, coal sector transition has often been associated with prolonged socio-economic dislocation in affected regions.
• Policies to accompany affected regions are thus a crucial part of policy mixes to limit warming to 1.5°C and even 2°C.
• Such policies should be anticipatory and long-term, as opposed to reactive policies focused on short-term measures to smooth the transition.
• A survey of major coal using countries shows that each is a long way from putting in place a long-term framework to transition the coal sector.
Over the next several decades, the world will undergo an energy transition as it shifts away from coal and oil to less carbon intensive energy sources. This process will create economic winners and losers, but these winners and loser will not be limited to corporations and their investors. Instead, communities that have developed around coal, oil, and gas extraction and processing will be negatively impacted if this energy transition occurs. Here, we provide first-order estimates of the socioeconomic vulnerability to decarbonization among U.S. counties. There are a small number of U.S. counties that appear to be highly vulnerable to decarbonization, and this suggests that policymakers could take a spatially-targeted approach to mitigating the socioeconomic impacts, similar to the approach of the Appalachian Regional Commission. Such a targeted approach may allow for a Just Transition to a low carbon economy.
The implications of place attachment and loss in generational coal mining communities are currently under-examined in energy transition discourse in Australia. By examining public submissions regarding a coal mining development in Lithgow, New South Wales, this paper identifies a relationship between coal mining and generational identity in this community. Acknowledging this relationship adds a useful perspective to energy transition discourse by highlighting the way in which hidden dimensions of loss can act to reinforce local support of extractive industry. We combine recent scholarship on the emotionality of the minescape (Ey & Sherval, 2016; Ey et al., 2017) with work on the ways in which place attachment can translate to feelings of loss in response to material change (Adger et al., 2013; Barnett et al., 2016; Tschakert et al., 2017) to suggest that factors of time and place can make community-level actors within the energy landscape either receptive, or resistant, to change. Applying this understanding to decarbonisation strategies can inform a more effective, and more just, energy transition in Australia.
‘Just transition’ (JT) is an increasingly popular concept developed by unions and adopted and adapted by academics, environmentalists, government and non-governmental organizations, and international institutions in recognition of the need to address social concerns and inequities emerging from efforts to address environmental problems. It has been noted, however, that ‘JT’ lacks both conceptual clarity and empirical evidence of its practical applications. This paper examines the ‘theory’ and practice of ‘JT’ by first considering the competing interpretations and conceptual understandings of ‘JT’ and second, the challenges of realizing a ‘JT’ in an Australian coal region where transition is occurring. The paper argues that achieving ‘JT’ requires more than government provisions and interventions and that unions must perform an active part in the ‘JT’ process through their relations with employers, workers, government, and community. It suggests the lack of clarity within the ‘JT’ literature may be the concept’s lasting strength.
This study considers the contours of the coal transition in the United States from the perspective of local planning responses to coal plant retirements in the U.S. West. Plant closures in the region affect a diverse set of geographies and have developed in a complex, uncoordinated policy environment. The study applies an assessment framework informed by economic geography and community planning scholarship to a dataset of 12 planning documents written by and for local communities experiencing coal facility closures. The findings highlight the absence of effective strategies to address lost local revenues, lack of connections between environmental quality and long-term economic resilience, and a range of levels of acceptance of the coal transition. Together, the plans demonstrate the negative consequences of an uncoordinated, contradictory policy environment for transition planning at the local level and the need for policy interventions to address issues of equity and efficiency in this process.
This paper provides a survey of policy process theories and their usefulness in transitions research. Some research has already used such theories, but often in an ad hoc and relatively cursory way and with little attention to potential alternatives. However, it has been argued that transition scholars need to pay more attention to the politics of policy processes. We argue that a critical stocktaking of policy process theories is a prerequisite for future transition studies that more systematically respond to these challenges. Therefore, we review five prominent policy process theories and their applicability in transition studies. We point to two weaknesses of empirical applications of these approaches that are of particular relevance for transitions research: their focus on single instruments or policy packages, and their neglect of policy outcomes. We conclude by suggesting avenues for research on the linkages between policy processes, policy mixes, and socio-technical change.
Sustainability transitions is an emerging field of research that has produced both conceptual understandings of the drivers of technological transitions, as well as more prescriptive and policy-engaged analyses of how shifts from unsustainable to sustainable forms of production and consumption can be achieved. Yet attention towards the role of the state is underdeveloped in the field. The significance of this neglect has become more apparent in particular due to the heightened urgency around the need to tackle climate change and energy security, where there are increasing calls for an enhanced role for the state. This paper sets out to advance understandings of the multiple and conflicting roles that states play in transitions. It first addresses key weaknesses in the way the state has been examined thus far. Second, it highlights theoretical resources and conceptualisations of the state that can help scholars of transitions open up new and more productive avenues for understanding drivers and barriers to sustainable transitions drawing on examples from different sectors, regions and issue areas.