Engaging fossil fuel workers in climate solutions

Most of the people who understand the issue of climate change and the breaching of our planetary boundaries understand the need for a transition away from fossil fuels. The idea is that this will lead to a world with lower emissions and cleaner energy if that transition happens fast enough and around the world. But there's a little wrinkle in there that people often forget. What happens to all the people? What happens to all the coal miners, and workers in the oil fields? No fossil fuels are going to be eliminated tomorrow, but if we do slowly and steadily move away from fossil fuels, how to deal with the people in those industries in a just and equitable manner is an important question. There are core principles of a #justtransition. These include: Dialogue with all parties - All impacted parties must be around the table so that everyone's point of view is heard and those most adversely impacted by the closing down of an industry or plant have a real say. This dialogue needs to be thorough and acceptable to all parties. There will be a long runway for many of these transitions so these discussions should be happening long before a plant is shut down, the mine is closed, or the drilling stops. This dialogue includes the communities impacted. Adequate compensation – Transitioning away from high-carbon industries is going to adversely impact a lot of vulnerable people. Some may have just started in an industry and can transition into something new quite quickly. Some may be only a few years from retirement and can’t do so. Some in the middle of a career may require more training and more help to move on to something else. The question of who's going to pay for that transition and how much they're going to pay needs to be discussed honestly and transparently. Job training - Some folks in carbon-intensive industries will indeed be able to transition smoothly into the energy jobs of the future. For many people, the skills they've developed over the years or decades won't translate to a new field, and they will need to be adequately trained to do something new. Shared sacrifice - The purpose of moving away from carbon-intensive industries is so that humanity benefits in the long run. For these transitions to be seen as fair and just so that society sees them as worthwhile, the sacrifice should be shared by all parties. This includes investors, company executives, communities, and governments as well as workers. A final plan with firm commitments - All parties need to agree on a final plan with firm commitments about job training, compensation, and community impact. Transparency - For workers and communities to agree to these transitions and for societies to see them as just they must take place in the open in a transparent way and be codified in writing for all to see.

Just three months after the program launched, 26 apprentices are now training to work in geothermal in Utah. Where did they come from? They're all former oilfield specialists. When we invested in Fervo Energy in 2020, our thesis was clear: advance clean firm power while building new job pathways for skilled fossil fuel workers. Five years later, through a partnership we funded between Fervo and Southern Utah University (hat/tip to our D-SAFE instrument), these careers are getting ready to launch. And two years after breaking ground on Cape Station, Utah (the largest enhanced geothermal project in history), Fervo has already drilled 20 wells and is on track for 500 MW capacity by 2028. The site is projected to generate $1.1B in local economic activity and employ 6,600+ construction workers. As global power demand surges 165% by 2030 (accelerated by AI and data centers), we need more than just technology solutions — we need workforce innovation. A new workforce doesn't develop on its own. It takes dedicated leadership from the likes of Tim Latimer, Nour Ghadanfar, Dawn OWENS, Danya Hakeem, Gabriel Scheer, Daniella Henry and many more. *Dig deeper* in our new case study -- it's worth a 3-min read! https://lnkd.in/gxgSYHKJ What other sectors or technologies need this kind of workforce focus? Let us know.

Let’s be honest, talking about coal (or coal workers and communities) isn’t exactly glamorous. Especially in Global North circles, and in conversations with those outside my line of work, it rarely sparks the same passion or urgency that fuels much of today’s climate advocacy.  And when we skip these harder, less comfortable discussions, we miss what’s really at stake—for livelihoods, for local economies, and for the integrity of transition efforts. That’s what our new paper, just published in Energy Research & Social Science, explores: 🚨 “Profiling Risk in South Africa’s Just Transition: Who Is Left Behind?” 🔗 Read it here: https://lnkd.in/eP-nag9t Together with Megan Cole and Bandita Sijapati, we built one of the first national-level profiles of South Africa’s coal workforce—47,000 workers across 33 mines—drawing from Social and Labour Plans (SLPs), spatial tax data, and mine-level closure risk mapping. Here's what we found: ➤ 43% are contract workers with little protection, fewer benefits, and lower education levels ➤ Over half are unskilled or semi-skilled, making re-employment much harder ➤ Coal mine jobs pay 55% more than local averages, so job losses ripple across entire local economies ➤ Four municipalities in Mpumalanga face highly concentrated transition risks ➤ $260 million has been pledged for skills and community investment, but implementation remains fragmented and opaque This is the real face of transition: messy, uneven, deeply human. Ensuring a fair shift away from coal isn’t just about speed. It’s about balance: urgency with care, ambition with inclusion, and climate goals with social realities. We argue for place-based, worker-centered planning. SLPs may be imperfect, but they offer a foundation for more grounded, equitable transitions, if better aligned with just transition finance and policy frameworks. Grateful to the Climate Support Facility and The World Bank for supporting this work, and to everyone working to make transitions not just low-carbon, but truly just: for the communities who powered our past and continue to power our present, and for the credibility of climate action itself. Because when communities are supported, they don’t fight against transitions—they fight for them.