The End of Coal Mining in South Wales: Lessons learned from industrial transformation

This report analyzes the decline of coal mining in South Wales, United Kingdom, from its growth during the industrial revolution to its disappearance in the 1990s, to provide lessons for other regions transitioning away from coal.

• The Welsh Development Agency (WDA) and European Union funds were used to attract inward investment to mitigate the transition from coal. While the WDA was considered an extremely successful intervention on a macroeconomic level in the short and medium terms, its success was more muted for individual mining communities over the longer term.
• The primary lesson from the South Wales experience is the significant impact of global economic factors and the necessity of developing local resilience and a critical mass of skills to manage the closure of collieries and subsequent economic shifts.

APA

Kitson,, L. K. M. (2017). The End of Coal Mining in South Wales: Lessons learned from industrial transformation. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/end-coal-mining-south-wales-lessons-learned-industrial-transformation

Chicago

Kitson,, Lucy Kitson,Travers Merrill,Lucy. The End of Coal Mining in South Wales: Lessons learned from industrial transformation. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2017. https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/end-coal-mining-south-wales-lessons-learned-industrial-transformation.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kitson, |first1=Lucy Kitson,Travers Merrill,Lucy |title=The End of Coal Mining in South Wales: Lessons learned from industrial transformation |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=19 May 2017 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/end-coal-mining-south-wales-lessons-learned-industrial-transformation |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kitson2017end, author = {Kitson,, Lucy Kitson,Travers Merrill,Lucy}, title = {{The End of Coal Mining in South Wales: Lessons learned from industrial transformation}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2017}, month = may, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/report/end-coal-mining-south-wales-lessons-learned-industrial-transformation}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }