From Coal to Solar or Wind

The Break Through | Dec, 20, 2022

Employment and the clean energy transition in India’s coal-producing states.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the world will have to reduce its coal use by 73% to 97% by 2050 to be able to limit global warming to 1.5°C.

Taken at face value, reducing coal use immediately, irrespective of the costs, may seem like a no-brainer. But given the huge number of people and regions dependent on coal, the reality is more complicated. Take India, for example. A transition of this magnitude in that country would likely eliminate most coal mining jobs—a sector that provided 8.4 million jobs in India and elsewhere in 2021.

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