October 1, 2018
In the energy debate to date, the impact of the transition on workers and communities has been almost completely ignored. This is an omission we can’t afford.
The costs of investing in a Just Transition need to be balanced against the costs of doing nothing and abandoning whole communities to a bleak future.
CFMEU Mining and Energy commissioned the report “The Ruhr or Appalachia? Deciding the future of Australia’s coal power workers and communities” because power generation is already undergoing major transformation that will only increase. The report draws on experiences in other countries over many decades to show what works and what doesn’t.
The goal in releasing this research is to push Australia towards a better way of dealing with this upheaval – towards Just Transition.