The Economics of Just Transition: A Framework for Supporting Fossil Fuel–Dependent Workers and Communities in the United States

Pollin, Robert; Callaci, Brian

doi:10.1177/0160449x18787051

Cited by 79 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 2 publications

(1 reference statement)

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“…Prior studies on job options for coal miners have either focused on issues like retraining (Louie andPearce's 2016, Pollin andCallaci 2018) or comparing the current number of coal jobs with projections for future RE jobs (ILO 2018, IRENA 2018a, 2018b. While these studies make important contributions to the literature, they do not explore whether RE jobs can be created locally for coal miners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recently, scholarly articles on just transitions, reports by inter-governmental organizations, and numerous media reports highlight that coal miners could be retrained in order to specifically switch to jobs in the growing RE industries (Hancock 2016, Louie and Pearce 2016, Collins 2018, European Commission 2018, Pollin and Callaci 2018. For example, Louie and Pearce's (2016, p 301) paper, focusing on US coal workers (mine and power plant), concludes that, 'Ka relatively minor investment in retraining would allow the vast majority of coal workers to switch to PV-related positions even in the event of the elimination of the coal industry.'…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Solar has greater techno-economic resource suitability than wind for replacing coal mining jobs

Pai

Zerriffi

Jewell

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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Coal mining directly employs over 7 million workers and benefits millions more through indirect jobs. However, to meet the 1.5°C global climate target, coal's share in global energy supply should decline between 73% and 97% by 2050. But what will happen to coal miners as coal jobs disappear ? Answering this question is necessary to ensure a just transition and to ensure that politically powerful coal mining interests do not impede energy transitions. Some suggest that coal miners can transition to renewable jobs. However, prior research has not investigated the potential for renewable jobs to replace 'local' coal mining jobs. Historic analyses of coal industry declines show that coal miners do not migrate when they lose their jobs. By focusing on China, India, the US, and Australia, which represent 70% of global coal production, we investigate: (1) the local solar and wind capacity required in each coal mining area to enable all coal miners to transition to solar/wind jobs; (2) whether there are suitable solar and wind power resources in coal mining areas in order to install solar/wind plants and create those jobs; and (3) the scale of renewables deployment required to transition coal miners in areas suitable for solar/wind power. We find that with the exception of the US, several GWs of solar or wind capacity would be required in each coal mining area to transition all coal miners to solar/wind jobs. Moreover, while solar has more resource suitability than wind in coal mining areas, these resources are not available everywhere. In China, the country with the largest coal mining workforce, only 29% of coal mining areas are suitable for solar power. In all four countries, less than 7% of coal mining areas have suitable wind resources. Further, countries would have to scale-up their current solar capacity significantly to transition coal miners who work in areas suitable for solar development.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solar has greater techno-economic resource suitability than wind for replacing coal mining jobs

Pai

Zerriffi

Jewell

et al. 2020

Environ. Res. Lett.

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“…4 However, Pollin and Callaci (2016) acknowledges that energy transition will also cause job losses and a decline in welfare for communities tied to fossil-fuel industries. This makes it necessary to complement the green new deal project with policies aimed at supporting workers and communities that will suffer the consequences of the abandonment of fossil fuels.…”

Section: The Decoupling Debatementioning

confidence: 99%

Coupling environmental transition and social prosperity: a scenario-analysis of the Italian case

Cieplinski

D’Alessandro

Distefano

et al. 2021

Structural Change and Economic Dynamics

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“…In order for the global clean-energy project to succeed, it must provide adequate transitional support for these workers and communities. Pollin and Callaci (2016, 2018) have developed a Just Transition policy framework in some detail within the US economy; and Pollin et al (2017a, 2017b) have developed a still more detailed approach around these issues for the US states of New York and Washington. Considering the United States as a whole, the authors estimate that a rough high-end estimate for such a program is a relatively modest $600 million per year (i.e., less than 0.2 percent of the 2018 US federal government budget).…”

Section: Job Creation and The Just Transitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Advancing a Viable Global Climate Stabilization Project: Degrowth versus the Green New Deal

Pollin

2019

Review of Radical Political Economics

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This paper summarizes a global Green New Deal program that can advance climate stabilization as well as rising mass living standards and an expansion of decent job opportunities. The core features of this program are massive global investments in energy efficiency and clean renewable energy so that clean energy supplants the existing fossil-fuel-dominant global energy system. Through annual investments in the range of 2 percent of global GDP in clean energy and a corresponding contraction in fossil fuel consumption, the global economy can maintain an absolute decoupling trajectory—i.e., economic growth proceeds while CO2 emissions fall to zero within 30–40 years. The paper also shows that a steady contraction of global GDP—i.e., “degrowth”—does not provide a viable climate stabilization framework. JEL Classification: Q54, Q56, Q58

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The Economics of Just Transition: A Framework for Supporting Fossil Fuel–Dependent Workers and Communities in the United States

Cited by 79 publications

References 2 publications

Solar has greater techno-economic resource suitability than wind for replacing coal mining jobs

Solar has greater techno-economic resource suitability than wind for replacing coal mining jobs

Coupling environmental transition and social prosperity: a scenario-analysis of the Italian case

Advancing a Viable Global Climate Stabilization Project: Degrowth versus the Green New Deal

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