Opinion | How to shape life after coal - The Washington Post

Opinion | How to shape life after coal - The Washington Post

Ezgi Canpolat is a social development specialist at the World Bank Group, where she focuses on the social dimensions of climate change.

I know, firsthand, how tight-knit a coal community can be, how the fossil fuel becomes part of the town’s lore, a thread in its social fabric. But today, through my work at the World Bank, I help communities shape a life after coal.

This transition might be one of the biggest steps countries can take to combat the effects of climate change. Last month, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published a report that urged the world to phase out coal and achieve net-zero electricity generation by 2035 for developed countries and 2040 for the rest of the world.

Globally, this could affect approximately 4.7 million people directly employed in the coal sector, and many more who depend on the industry for their work, too. The move away from coal and other fossil fuels is crucial, but the journey ahead is not easy. It requires financing, green job creation, training and social safety nets.

Before coal, my hometown was economically disadvantaged. The opening of a coal mine and thermal power station in the 1980s transformed the town, attracting engineers, technicians, and mining and plant workers from other cities. My father, a mining engineer at the state-owned Turkish Coal Enterprises, joined this rush and moved to Cayirhan with my mother just after I was born.

We were cocooned in the mountains. There were limited opportunities available to women. For the men, it was, in the words of my father, “the world’s most difficult job.” After nearly a decade and a half of toiling in the mines, he was left with damaged lungs — a burden that only grew heavier during the covid-19 pandemic.

However, this isolation also had an upside: Our sense of community and identity was strong. My best friends are still those I grew up with in that small coal town.

But in the late 1990s, the Turkish state privatized the coal mine and power plant, and a lot of families, including ours, moved away. The town was changed forever, and I got a glimpse into the profound social transformation that is in store for coal communities if governments don’t plan properly.

When countries implement policies without considering their impact on communities, they put social cohesion under strain. In 2018, France proposed a fuel tax to raise money for climate change initiatives, which triggered opposition from small communities without access to public transportation. The resulting “yellow vest” protests led the government to cancel the tax. Ecuador faced similar unrest in 2019 when the government removed fossil fuel subsidies.

In 2016, many American coal miners cast their votes for those who vowed to support coal — a promise that did not pan out. As a 2021 World Bank report noted, the future for coal is bleak, given competition from other lower-cost fuels and energy efficiency improvements that have had a much greater impact on the demand for coal than any environmental regulations have.

Yet, I have also seen the transition away from coal go well. The Climate Investment Funds (CIF) and the World Bank help governments engage and empower communities to shape their own futures after coal. We are currently working with the government of South Africa, which has received $8.5 billion in pledges from Britain, France, Germany, the United States and European Union. A commission established by the government and involving multiple stakeholders has conducted comprehensive consultations and explained the need for action, though they mostly listened to what people thought about their future. The government is also exploring ways to empower coal mining communities to take the lead on the green transition, including by ensuring that local stakeholders have a say in decision-making for local investments in social and economic infrastructure.

There is a burgeoning success story in Indonesia — the world’s largest coal exporter with more than 250,000 workers directly engaged in the industry. The country’s leaders and a group of international partners are working on a similar model to that which was pioneered in South Africa. They will mobilize $20 billion to accelerate the transition away from coal, with plans to retire and repurpose coal-fired power plants and mines, finance clean energy alternatives, and address the impact of these changes on people and communities. There is still much work to be done, but these first steps are promising.

In my hometown, coal had an intangible quality; it permeated every aspect of our lives, in our schools and health clinics, at our annual celebration and our kitchen tables. When countries move toward a greener future, they must not forget the transformation that people in these communities will go through. Their voices must be at the forefront of decision-making as they take charge of their own destinies, transforming the social tapestry of their communities in the process. This is crucial not only for improving the lives of people in these communities, but also for reducing opposition, and facilitating a faster and a fairer transition to a green economy.