Transitioning countries away from coal—the world's most dominant and most carbon-intensive source of energy—is crucial to ensuring a clean energy future.
A well-managed retirement of coal power plants and a massive scale-up in clean energy are essential to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and the targets of the Paris Agreement.
A "Just Transition for All" initiative puts people and communities at the center of the transition. The initiative works with stakeholders to create the plans, policies, and reforms needed to mitigate environmental impacts, support impacted people, and build a new clean energy future.
The World Bank has decades of experience supporting countries where coal mines and power plants are closing, wherever they are in the transition process. This includes looking at the interdependencies between the decommissioning of coal assets—such as mining, transport, and power plants—and developing renewable energy programs to take their place. Since 1995, we have provided more than $3 billion to support governments close coal mines and power plants and ensure a Just Transition that safeguards jobs and income in affected communities.
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Phasing out coal is one of the most vital steps to fighting #climatechange and protecting the planet. A Just Transition from coal to cleaner energy offers communities significant economic and social opportunities as well. The town of Libiąż, Poland, located in a centuries-old coal mining region, is in the midst of this transition.
The report offers recommendations on how governments can prepare for job losses that arise from future mine closure and highlights policies to support workers through the transition period and into alternative employment.
This report aims to share with governments lessons learned regarding coal mine closure. The full set of coal mine closure issues is diverse with few positive case studies to date to draw on.
As the global energy transition progresses, regions that produce and consume coal face unique and complex challenges. No matter the global nature of the challenge, successful transition solutions must begin locally and look well beyond simply the question of energy. This was found to be true in the case of Western Macedonia.
This report analyzes the consequences for the labor force of Western Macedonia’s (Greece) decarbonization as part of Europe’s new Green Deal.
Lowering countries' dependence on coal is a long-term process that affects communities in complex ways, but scant attention has been paid to how this process affects women. This report explores the gendered impacts of the energy transition in coal regions, and suggests policies to help ensure that a just transition away from coal benefits men and women equally.
Lowering countries' dependence on coal is a long-term process that affects communities in complex ways, but scant attention has been paid to how this process affects women. This report explores the gendered impacts of the energy transition in coal regions, and suggests policies to help ensure that a just transition away from coal benefits men and women equally.
Our warming world needs to wean itself away from fossil fuels, but closing coal mines can impact jobs and communities. How can we ensure people and communities are at the center of the transition away from coal? In this episode of The Development Podcast, we hear about the challenges and opportunities involved in this important transition.
Communities are at the heart of a just transition to clean energy. LURA, a free app, helps communities decide how to repurpose land for a sustainable use. The tool analyzes facts on the ground, values collaborative input, and offers a path towards a cleaner energy, helping regions transition from coal dependence to a post-coal future.
