In the Polish part of Silesia alone, on the border with Germany and the Czech Republic, the European Commission estimates that decarbonization could mean the loss of 78 thousand jobs linked to the production chain for coal mining and use. All over the world the economies of many regions are based on the exploitation of fossil fuel resources. The energy transition therefore, unless it is steered carefully, risks producing new inequalities. In order to respond to this problem, already in the 1990s, labor unions in North America introduced the concept of the Just Transition, the idea of a fair and inclusive energy transition that leaves no one behind and considers the communities that will bear the worst impact from decarbonization. It is not merely a question of jobs: the consequences will be wide-ranging and will cover all dimensions of life in society. A just approach to the energy transition will therefore have to take into account the redistribution of the benefits or the repartition between different countries – and within each country – of the new wealth that is generated. The transition as a response to energy poverty Today many areas of the planet are still affected by what is known as energy poverty, the condition in which people are unable to ensure the adequate heating (or cooling) of their homes. At the same time, they don’t have an adequate supply of energy for domestic uses. This problem not only concerns developing countries, such as those in sub-Saharan Africa where 600 million people still do not have access to electricity. It is estimated that within the European Union around 45 million people suffer from energy poverty and this has obvious consequences on their physical and mental health, resulting in a vicious circle in terms of social costs. These imbalances need to be tackled sooner rather than later because the energy transition also represents a one-off opportunity. The most delicate aspect concerns the regions whose economies are based mainly on fossil fuels. While the disappearance of some jobs is inevitable, national governments and supranational agencies can intervene with programs to reskill employees and provide professional training to offer new job opportunities, beginning with the redeployment to new activities linked to renewable sources. Moreover, a system of social welfare support capable of absorbing the difficulties of the first phase of the transition is fundamental. The example of Europe The European Union was among the first to take action on this front. The European Green Deal, in fact, includes the program for the Just Transition, a fund to mobilize more than 150 billion euro between 2021 and 2027 and organize the energy transition in a balanced way. The aim is to ensure that the passage to a “climate-neutral economy occurs in a fair way and leaves no one behind.” It offers support for all the industries that will be penalized: on the one hand, in the mining sector, from coal to lignite, peat to oil shale; and on the other, the production chains with high levels of emissions of carbon dioxide and other pollutants, such as the steel, fertilizer, paper, cement and aluminum industries. The coal sector alone employs 230 thousand people spread across 11 EU countries (the figures are as of 2020). Forecasts predict a good return on investments. Already by 2030 it is estimated that Europe will benefit from the energy transition with an added value of between 47 and 80 billion euro. And in the long term the figures are set to be even higher, exceeding the total of investments. It is therefore necessary that the redistribution of wealth should be balanced in favor of those countries that are most penalized during the initial phases. The just transition as a global issue As with the fight against climate change, the Just Transition is also a global issue. In theory, the question has been around for more than 20 years, but 2013 saw the creation of the Climate Justice Alliance, a global network of non-governmental organizations that tackles the issues of sustainability and inequality in parallel, focusing mainly on the United States. Elsewhere South America has CEPAL (Comisión Económica para América Latina y El Caribe, the Economic Commission for Latina America and Caribbean), while in Africa one of the key points of reference is the RES4Africa foundation. Operating at global level, however, is the UN, beginning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda, in particular SDG#7 (Clean and accessible energy for all) and SDG#8 (Decent work and economic growth). The energy transition is naturally the cornerstone of SDG#13 (Climate action), as was underlined at the most recent global climate conference. In reality, even at COP21 in Paris, the conference that resulted in the historic global agreement on reducing emissions, the Just Transition was cited, as was the need to make explicit reference to a fair and balanced energy transition that leaves no one behind. That this is the way forward is something that everybody can agree on.
