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Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals
The Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals, published by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE), is a comprehensive guide designed to empower healthcare workers to act as educators and advocates. It details the science of anthropogenic climate change, the disproportionate health risks faced by vulnerable populations, and the specific regional vulnerabilities across Canada. The document emphasizes 'health co-benefits'—the immediate health improvements resulting from climate mitigation, such as reduced air pollution from phasing out coal and improved cardiovascular health through active transportation. It provides a framework for health care facilities to assess their own climate resiliency and reduce their carbon footprints, while offering strategies for health professionals to engage patients, peers, and policymakers in the transition to a low-carbon economy.
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Document type: Guide
Climate Change Toolkit for Health Professionals
The report argues that transitioning away from fossil fuels through carbon pricing, energy efficiency, active transportation, and plant-based diets can simultaneously reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve public health outcomes. It highlights that in Canada, air pollution from fossil fuels causes 14,400 premature deaths annually, and that shifting to low-carbon energy and urban design can significantly reduce chronic diseases and healthcare costs.
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Document type: Report
Boîte à outils sur les changements climatiques pour les professionnels de la santé
The document is a comprehensive guide for healthcare professionals to address climate change. It covers the science of climate change, its global and Canadian health impacts, greenhouse gas (GHG) emission trends in Canada, and practical solutions. It emphasizes 'co-benefits'—where climate actions like promoting plant-based diets or active transport immediately improve public health. The guide provides specific strategies for making healthcare facilities more resilient and sustainable, such as reducing the carbon footprint of anesthesia and supply chains, and offers a framework for community-level adaptation and professional advocacy.
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Document type: Guide
India’s Energy Transition: Stranded coal power assets, workers and energy subsidies
The document examines the crisis of 'stressed' coal power assets in India, where approximately 21% of operational capacity was identified as non-performing in 2018. It identifies current drivers of stranding, such as the financial distress of distribution companies (DISCOMs) and coal shortages, alongside future risks including water scarcity, air pollution regulations, and the increasing cost-competitiveness of renewable energy. The authors argue that government subsidies and preferential financing have artificially dampened market signals, prolonging the life of unviable assets. Finally, the brief advocates for a 'just transition' framework to prevent the burden of asset stranding from falling on the millions of workers in the coal value chain, particularly in states like Jharkhand, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.
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Document type: Briefing
LIFE AFTER COAL FACT SHEET AND TECHNICAL REPORT ON THE MYTH OF “CLEAN COAL”
The Centre for Environmental Rights asserts that "clean coal" technology is a misnomer used by vested interests to sustain the coal industry despite its severe environmental and health impacts. The letter argues that coal-fired power is unsustainable and that South Africa must transition to wind and solar power to meet global climate targets and avoid stranding its workforce.
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Document type: Statement
LIFE AFTER COAL RESPONSE TO RECENT STATEMENTS AROUND “CLEAN COAL”
The Centre for Environmental Rights (CER), writing on behalf of the Life After Coal Campaign, challenges statements made by Minister Jeff Radebe regarding the viability of "clean coal" technologies. The CER asserts that "clean coal" is a misnomer and a myth, arguing that no technology can neutralize the environmental, health, and climate impacts of the entire coal cycle. The document advocates for a coal phase-out and a just transition to sustainable energy systems, citing declining coal employment and consumption in South Africa as evidence of an inevitable shift. It emphasizes that achieving the IPCC's 1.5 degree Celsius target requires drastic CO2 reductions, which necessitates moving away from coal toward socially-owned renewable energy projects.
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Document type: Statement
Understanding the impact of a low carbon transition on South Africa
South Africa faces a cumulative transition risk of over $120 billion in present value terms between 2013 and 2035, primarily driven by declining global demand for coal exports. While investors initially bear the majority of this risk, implicit transfers and contingent liabilities could shift more than half of the total risk onto the national government, potentially jeopardising its investment-grade sovereign credit rating. The report identifies significant risks to state-owned enterprises like Transnet and Eskom, and private entities such as Sasol and Exxaro. Conversely, a global transition could provide a $45.5 billion windfall for consumers through lower oil prices. The document recommends that the South African government avoid new carbon-intensive investments, develop fiscal tools to capture oil windfalls to offset coal losses, and implement transparent transition plans for workers and municipalities.
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Document type: Report
Understanding the impact of a low carbon transition on South Africa
The report finds that South Africa faces a cumulative transition risk of over $120 billion in present value terms between 2013 and 2035, primarily driven by falling demand and prices for coal exports. While the public balance sheet explicitly faces only 16% of this downside risk, implicit transfers—such as bailouts and social support—could increase the national government's share to over half. The analysis highlights that approximately 75% of these risks are external, and nearly 50% were already realized by 2017. Furthermore, current investment incentives may add another $25.8 billion in risk through projects like new oil refineries and coal infrastructure. The report recommends that the government adopt transition risk assessments, reconsider high-risk investments, and potentially tax oil price windfalls to offset losses.
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Document type: Executive summary
The end of coal? Planning a just transition in South Africa
The report examines the economic, political, and environmental risks associated with a potential decline in South African coal production, drawing on stakeholder workshops and interviews to identify the institutional arrangements and policy mechanisms required for a just transition.
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Document type: Report
Deutschland: Annullierung von Emissionslizenzen und Kohleausstieg müssen Hand in Hand gehen
The document assesses the German Coal Commission's plan to be coal-free by 2038, noting that while it avoids up to 1.8 GtCO2e of emissions, it is insufficient to meet the 2°C target. It emphasizes that the EU-ETS is a vital but insufficient tool on its own, and warns of a "waterbed effect" where allowances from closed German plants are used by other EU entities unless they are explicitly cancelled. The author advocates for a "just transition" where public funds support affected workers and communities rather than compensating private shareholders of utility companies like RWE.
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Document type: Statement
Appel à l’action concernant le Changement Climatique et la Santé
The document argues that climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century, citing specific impacts on Canadians such as respiratory issues from wildfires, heat-related deaths in Quebec, and food insecurity in the Canadian Arctic. It calls for federal action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, phase out coal and fossil fuel subsidies, and invest in public health resilience and a just transition for workers.
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Document type: Statement
Call to Action on Climate Change and Health
The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment and other health professionals argue that climate change is the greatest health threat of the 21st century, citing immediate impacts in Canada such as wildfires, heat-related deaths, and food insecurity in the Arctic. They urge federal parties to adopt targets to keep warming below 1.5°C, phase out coal by 2030, and reduce emissions from the oil, gas, and transport sectors, noting that such policies would yield significant health co-benefits and reduce healthcare costs.
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Document type: Statement
Germany: emission permit cancellation and coal phase-out must go hand in hand
The German coal commission's plan to be coal-free by 2038 aims to avoid up to 1.8GtCO2e of emissions compared to a business-as-usual scenario. However, the author contends that the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) alone is insufficient to force a phase-out and warns that closing plants without cancelling permits allows other polluters to use them, known as the 'waterbed effect'. The document advocates for using public funds to support workers and communities in a Just Transition rather than compensating private shareholders of utilities like RWE.
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Document type: Statement
GREEN ECONOMY COALITION: EVENT REPORT
The Green Economy Coalition (GEC) convened a global meeting in Cape Town from January 8-10, 2019, bringing together over 130 participants to address the question of how everyone can get a stake in the green economy. The event resulted in five core findings, a set of policy recommendations for the UN-PAGE Ministerial, and a framework for the GEC's next ten-year strategy. The report highlights a global trend toward green investment—noting over 9 trillion of private investment since 2007—while warning that biodiversity is in crisis and the global financial system is structurally unfit for the environmental crisis. It also provides status updates on green economy initiatives in several GEC hub countries, including South Africa, India, Mongolia, Peru, Senegal, and Uganda.
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Document type: Report
Redesigning the Energy Charter Treaty to Advance the Low-Carbon Transition
The authors argue that the Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) currently hinders the low-carbon transition by treating fossil-fuel and renewable energy investments identically. They propose a modernization process that abandons 'energy-source neutrality' in favor of state-specific lists that encourage low-carbon investments and phase out carbon-intensive ones. The paper also suggests reforming Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) by requiring the exhaustion of local remedies, introducing state-to-state dispute settlement, and clarifying 'denial of benefits' clauses to protect climate policy space. Substantive recommendations include narrowing the 'Fair and Equitable Treatment' (FET) standard, defining indirect expropriation to protect public welfare measures, and adopting a 'sunk-costs' approach for valuing damages in the phase-out of fossil fuels.
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Document type: Research paper
The end of coal?
The report examines the risks associated with the potential significant decline of South Africa's coal production over the next five to ten years. It highlights the high concentration of coal assets in Mpumalanga province and the resulting vulnerability of local employment and municipal revenues. The authors argue that a 'just transition' requires moving beyond technical energy models to address local-level impacts, including labor redeployment, economic diversification, and the remediation of environmental legacies. It identifies gaps in current governance, such as the conflict of interest within the Department of Mineral Resources, and suggests that existing mechanisms like Social and Labour Plans need systemic improvement to be effective.
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Document type: Report
Principles for aligning U.S. fossil fuel extraction with climate limits
The document argues that the United States, as a top fossil fuel producer with a resilient economy, must phase out extraction faster than the global average to meet Paris Agreement goals. It introduces three principles: reducing production at a pace consistent with climate protection, accelerating phase-outs in economically resilient communities, and safeguarding human rights and the environment. The authors apply these principles to U.S. coal and onshore oil, identifying the Appalachian Basin and California's San Joaquin basin as high-priority areas for rapid wind-down due to high carbon intensity, lower relative economic dependence, and significant environmental or social harms.
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Document type: Research paper
A Green New Deal to Save People and the Planet
Friends of the Earth U.S. proposes a Green New Deal centered on a total transition to 100 percent renewable energy and ecological agriculture. The platform advocates for the rapid phase-out of fossil fuels, the elimination of subsidies for carbon-intensive industries, and the rejection of unproven technologies like carbon capture and geoengineering. It emphasizes a 'just transition' based on energy democracy, food sovereignty, and the protection of worker rights and frontline communities, while calling for the United States to address its ecological debt to the Global South.
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Document type: Statement
THE MYTH OF “CLEAN COAL”
The report asserts that "clean coal" is impossible, detailing the severe impacts of coal mining and combustion in South Africa. It examines technologies like HELE plants, CFB combustion, and CCS, concluding they fail to substantially reduce emissions or costs compared to renewables. It further notes that Eskom and Sasol have frequently sought postponements to comply with national air quality standards.
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Document type: Report
IMPLEMENTING JUST TRANSITION AFTER COP24
The document argues that for climate transitions to be successful and socially acceptable, they must be both fast and fair. It emphasizes that Just Transition should be integrated into NDCs and national planning through participatory social dialogue and multi-scalar action. The brief highlights the importance of the Silesia Declaration and the role of the ILO in providing frameworks for decent work. It specifically identifies the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region as requiring greater support due to high fossil fuel dependence. Key recommendations include pre-emptive planning, skills development, and the use of targeted social protection tools like pension guarantees and retraining. The author calls for more empirical research, including quantitative evidence of net job gains, to inform decision-makers.
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Document type: Policy brief