Coal India to Layoff Over 70,000 Workers by The Year 2050, Says a Report

Every good change comes with its own cost. The world is shifting to cleaner energy sources, thereby fostering sustainable development, but the flipside is that through the move, approximately 4 lakh workers in the coal industry are expecting a job loss by the year 2050, as stated in a report by the Global Energy Monitor, released on 10th October. 
The coal industry workers in India and China are the most affected as per the report. The report forecasts that Coal India will be cutting down on over 70,000 jobs by 2050.

What does the report say?

The report says that an average of 100 coal mine workers per day are on the verge of potential unemployment by the year 2035 due to a market shift toward wind and solar power generation, and mine closure. Approximately 4,14,200 workers, which accounts for about half a million, operate coal mines that may shut down completely before 2035, thereby adversely affecting the livelihood of about 100 workers per day.

By the year 2050, as stated by the report, a total of 9,90,200 coal mine jobs will no longer be at the operating mines due to foreseeable closures of the coal industry. This means a potential layoff of approximately 37 percent of the existing workforce in the industry.
With all this information, the report also stresses the point that there is a need for a transition to clean energy in a just manner. 

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The report says that the Shanxi province of China will be laying off the most jobs in this regard globally. By the year 2050, a total of 2,41,900 jobs will be shed in the mining industry in this province of China. The number is clearly close to a quarter of a million.

Coal India, on the other hand, will be seeing potential job cuts of over 73,800 by the year 2050.

Adverse effects of the transition to clean energy on coal jobs 

Global warming is an alarming cause for the world and thus, the most efficient manner in which countries can reduce global warming is by decreasing human-caused carbon emissions. This process is known as Decarbonization. One way to practice decarbonization is to switch to cleaner forms of energy and reduce coal production by means of closing down existing mines. However, another side of the coin says that the coal industry is actually an important source of livelihood for many. This source of livelihood could not be stolen away from people, especially in the rural areas, who depend on the industry for their incomes.

An NGO based out of the United States, the Global Energy Monitor, works to compile and publish data on clean energy across the globe. Such information includes a shift to such clean energy sources, and complete information regarding employment at 4,300 proposed and active projects and coal mines across the globe that are jointly part of more than 90 percent of the global coal production. All this is done with the help of the Global Coal Mine Tracker.

The Tracker estimates the potential job cuts and records the "life of mine" of an operation- that is actually the time frame for how long coal firms aim to extract coal at the site under existing permits, leases, reserves available, and other important economic considerations.

As far as the analysis by the NGO is concerned, information from mines in over 70 countries has been used in the analysis. One such country is India, which holds an estimated number of 3.3 lakh workers working in the coal mines.

As per the report, a majority of mines that are expected to shut down in the upcoming decades actually do not have any plans to stretch the life of such operations or to handle a transition to a post-coal economy.

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Regional balances

Tiffany Means, a co-author of a report by Global Energy Monitor says, “The coal industry has a long list of mines that will close in the near term – many of them state-owned enterprises with a government stake.”

“Governments need to shoulder their share of the burden to ensure a managed transition for those workers and communities as we move into a clean energy economy.” the author added.

What does the transition to clean energy in a "just" manner mean? In this scenario, a "just" transition would mean making sure that the rehabilitation of workers who lose their jobs due to the transition is done.

As per the International Labor Organization, a "just" transition is concerned with, “greening the economy in a way that is as fair and inclusive as possible to everyone concerned, creating decent work opportunities and leaving no one behind”.

A professor at IIM, Calcutta, Runa Sarkar, is of the view that the report is nothing but a "wakeup call" to the severity of the situation at hand. The professor informed at a press conference that the mine closure has affected the coal mining region of West Bengal the most. Moreover, for every individual working in the formal economy getting affected, at least four individuals working in the informal sector are getting affected due to the mine shutdowns, expressed Sarkar.

The professor also shared that while the situation may get troublesome in the future, at present, coal production is increasing in India. Several talks have been held to restart some shutdown mines in order to combat the rising demand. Moreover, in October 2022, the Indian Government brought forward new guidelines regarding mine closure that are designed to tackle the related socioeconomic and ecological issues.

Sarkar says that there is a great deal of work around constructing a circular economy surrounding coal which understands that a "coal mining township soon becomes about much more than about coal itself.”

She further commented by stating the fact that regions that are actually rich in coal are actually not where the climate is such that there is no abundance of sunshine or wind. This means that coal mine closures in such areas would mean increasing regional imbalances. All these concerns make a broad bottom-up discussion surrounding energy transition a mandate in order to make sure a sustainable, just, and regionally balanced transition is done.

A bit about Coal India

Coal India Limited (CIL) stands as a central public sector undertaking in India under the aegis of the Ministry of Coal, Government of India. The headquarters of CIL is in Kolkata. The Coal India Limited (CIL) is the largest government-owned coal producer across the globe. Not to miss, Coal India Limited also provides employment to over 272,000 employees, making it the ninth-largest employer in the country.

Coal India Limited provides coal at costs that are discounted to international prices. The public sector undertaking safeguards Indian coal consumers against price volatility.

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