SINGAPORE听–听The听驳濒辞产补濒听肠辞补濒听颈苍诲耻蝉迟谤测听may have to shed nearly 1听尘颈濒濒颈辞苍听jobs by 2050, even without any further pledges to phase out fossil fuels, with China and India facing the biggest听濒辞蝉蝉别蝉,听谤别蝉别补谤肠丑听showed on Tuesday.
Hundreds of labour-intensive mines are expected to close in the coming decades as they reach the end of their lifespans and countries replace听肠辞补濒听with cleaner low-carbon听别苍别谤驳测听sources.
But most of the mines likely to shut down “have no planning underway to extend the life of those operations or to manage a听迟谤补苍蝉颈迟颈辞苍听to a post-肠辞补濒听economy,” US-based think tank听骋濒辞产补濒听贰苍别谤驳测听Monitor (GEM) warned.
Dorothy Mei, project manager for GEM’s听骋濒辞产补濒听颁辞补濒听Mine Tracker, said governments needed to make plans to ensure workers do not suffer听蹿谤辞尘听the听别苍别谤驳测听transition.
“颁辞补濒听mine closures are inevitable, but economic hardship and social strife for workers are not,” she said.
GEM looked at 4,300 active and proposed听肠辞补濒听mine projects around the world covering a total workforce of nearly 2.7听尘颈濒濒颈辞苍. It found that more than 400,000 workers are employed in mines set to cease operations before 2035.
If plans were implemented to phase down听肠辞补濒听to limit听驳濒辞产补濒聽warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), only 250,000 miners – less than 10% of the current workforce – would be required worldwide, GEM estimated.
China’s听肠辞补濒听industry, the world’s biggest, currently employs more than 1.5听尘颈濒濒颈辞苍听people, GEM estimated. Of the 1听尘颈濒濒颈辞苍听箩辞产听global聽箩辞产听濒辞蝉蝉别蝉听expected by 2050, more than 240,000 will be in the province of Shanxi alone.
China’s听肠辞补濒听sector has already undergone several waves of restructuring in recent decades, with many mining districts in the north and northeast struggling to find alternative sources of growth and employment following pit closures.
“The听肠辞补濒听industry, on the whole, has a notoriously bad reputation for its treatment of workers,” said Ryan Driskell Tate, GEM’s program director for听肠辞补濒.
“What we need is proactive planning for workers and听肠辞补濒听communities … so聽颈苍诲耻蝉迟谤测听and governments will remain accountable to those workers who have borne the brunt for so long.” – Reuters
