Hongxia Duan and Lucy Kitson of the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) in a conference video discusses the opportunities and pitfalls of such a large-scale transformation in Shanxi and the lessons China can draw from countries that have undergone the economic and social transition away from coal. In partnership with the Energy Research Institute of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, IISD has undertaken a first-of-its kind study of impacts of the phase out of coal subsidies and coalmine restructuring in Shanxi, one of China’s three main coal-mining regions where the challenges of transitions are expected to be the most severe. Lisa Abbott (Kentuckians for the Commonwealth) will close out the discussion bringing in a comparative discussion on how her group promotes energy diversification in the Appalachians that keeps communities strong.
At the end of 2016, the United States had a total of 54,030 coal sector employees nationwide and between 2015 and 2016, the country added 73,615 new jobs in solar energy generation bringing the total number of U.S. solar energy generation jobs to 373,807. The expanding jobs in solar, wind, and other renewables in the United States are greater than those for coal, oil, and gas industries combined. In China, as the government is slashing both small-scale inefficient coal mines and large-scale “zombie” coal companies as part of a managed gradual decline in coal capacity, Beijing expects to lay off 1.3 million coal workers but gain 13 million new renewable energy jobs by 2020.
Speakers at this July 12th China Environmental Forum (CEF) event will discuss the massive reforms that are lessening the pollution and carbon emissions from China’s coal-fired power sector and the social and economic challenges China must address as it moves away from fossil fuels. Drawing on the recently published report Everything You Think You Know About Coal in China is Wrong, Melanie Hart (Center for America Progress) will speak on how China is transforming its coal sector to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, and reduce the nation’s dependence on coal. CAP is conducting new data analysis to compare U.S. versus Chinese coal plants and is finding that China’s new ultra-supercritical plants are cleaner than anything operating in the United States.
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