CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020
| Author | Musayeva, Seylan Rauf |
|---|---|
| Title | Employment Effects of Historical Coal Decline |
| Summary | The need to phase-out fossil fuel-based energy systems, particularly unabated coal-fired power plants for electricity generation and associated mining activities, has become an essential part of climate and energy policy agendas worldwide. In the management of exit from coal, the risks of employment and loss of substantial share of local economic activities are among immediate challenges that need to be addressed. Focusing on these emerging challenges, scholars have not systematically engaged in a retrospective analysis of previous industrial decline that can contain valuable lessons for the ongoing transition. The thesis systematically reviews the post-transitional literature based on three main categories according to intervention levels (regions and communities, companies, and individuals) and associated 11 sub-categories highlighting specific policy instruments to mitigate consequences for the affected groups. It conducts a systematic analysis of the employment effects of historical coal transition to deduce lessons from post-transitional literature to inform future research and policy in sustainability transition. The findings highlight that policymakers should focus on developing functioning institutions (i.e., higher education institutions, universities, research hubs) rather than public infrastructure to boost regional attractiveness for investors and nudge for job creation in the affected regions. Concerning companies, the findings emphasize the importance of government in sharing the liabilities with companies to ensure compliance with distributional justice, through reducing pension premiums and healthcare liabilities, and mine remediation and restoration costs. Regarding individuals, the findings suggest that governments should conduct an accurate statistical analysis of workers’ age groups before closures, to identify the proportion of workers who might seek early retirement benefits and those who can be retrained for reemployment. Keywords: regime destabilization, coal, coal mining, coal communities and workers, low-carbon energy transition, climate policy |
| Supervisor | Cherp, Aleh |
| Department | Environment Sciences and Policy MSc |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2020/musayeva_seylan-rauf.pdf |
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