Scraping By: Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition

The report by Global Energy Monitor (GEM) analyzes global coal mining employment and the necessity of a 'just transition' for workers. Using a new dataset from the Global Coal Mine Tracker, GEM estimates that nearly 2.7 million people are directly employed at operating coal mines. The report warns that hundreds of thousands of jobs are at risk due to planned mine closures by 2035 and 2050, regardless of climate policies, and that significantly more layoffs would occur if the world adheres to 1.5°C and 2°C warming scenarios.

• The global coal mining workforce consists of nearly 2.7 million workers across 70 countries at 3,232 active mines, with over 80% of these jobs located in Asia.
• Regardless of climate pledges or phase-out targets, the coal industry is projected to lose 414,200 jobs by 2035 and nearly 1 million jobs (990,200) by 2050 due to scheduled mine closures.
• China's Shanxi Province is identified as the region most vulnerable to foreseeable mine closures, with 241,900 potential layoffs by midcentury.
• The ten largest global coal producers employ approximately 694,800 miners and could see up to 243,100 layoffs by 2050 due to 'life of mine' closures.
• To limit global warming to 1.5°C, global coal production would need to be reduced to a level requiring only 252,200 miners, based on current average labor productivity of 337 workers per million tonnes.
• Current national climate pledges to phase out coal power by midcentury cover only a small fraction (6% or 148,900) of miners working at thermal and mixed-grade mines.
• The report highlights severe safety and human rights risks in the sector, including deadly accidents in China, Russia, Türkiye, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, and Indonesia, as well as reports of child labor in Afghanistan and enslaved prisoners in North Korea.
• Just Energy Transition Partnerships (JETPs) have been established for South Africa (US$ 8.5 billion), Indonesia (US$ 20 billion), and Vietnam (US$ 15.5 billion), but the funding is significantly lower than the estimated needs, such as India's projected US$ 900 billion requirement over 30 years.
• Mechanization is reducing the need for labor; for example, the Shaanxi Coal and Chemical Industry Group's 'intelligent' production capacity led to a reduction of 14,000 underground miners.
• Spain is presented as a model for just transition, having closed all coal mines by December 2018 and implementing policies such as early retirement for miners aged 48 and above.

APA

Tate, R. D., Mei, D., Means, T., & Sugaya, S. (2023). Scraping By: Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition. Global Energy Monitor. https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM_Coal_Mine_Employment_2023_11.pdf

Chicago

Tate, Ryan Driskell, Dorothy Mei, Tiffany Means, and Satomi Sugaya. Scraping By: Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition. Global Energy Monitor, 2023. https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM_Coal_Mine_Employment_2023_11.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Tate |first1=Ryan Driskell |last2=Mei |first2=Dorothy |last3=Means |first3=Tiffany |last4=Sugaya |first4=Satomi |title=Scraping By: Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition |publisher=Global Energy Monitor |date=October 2023 |url=https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM_Coal_Mine_Employment_2023_11.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{tate2023scraping, author = {Tate, Ryan Driskell and Mei, Dorothy and Means, Tiffany and Sugaya, Satomi}, title = {{Scraping By: Global Coal Miners and the Urgency of a Just Transition}}, institution = {Global Energy Monitor}, year = {2023}, month = oct, url = {https://globalenergymonitor.org/sites/default/files/migration/reports/GEM_Coal_Mine_Employment_2023_11.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }