As India, the second largest coal consumer in the world, moves away from coal, policymakers have been mulling over what shape a just transition policy should take. But what do coal union leaders – the central stakeholders in the energy transition – feel about it?
A new study led by researchers from the Just Transition Research Centre at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur set out to capture the perspectives of major coal unions in India, that have largely been left out of the discourse on a just transition – a fair and inclusive energy transition from a fossil-fuel-dominated regime towards a non-fossil-fuel one.
India aims to reach net-zero emissions by 2070, which means its emissions would need to peak over the next decade and a half, before declining to net-zero. Some of the reductions are planned to come from the coal sector, which is responsible for 72% of India’s fuel-related emissions.
Transitioning away from coal – India’s primary energy source – means ensuring the process is just and equitable for the coal workforce. Around 13 million people are employed in the coal sector, both formally and informally.
Incorporating the views of union leaders and coal workers in such deliberations can ensure the process is inclusive and complete, the researchers of the study say, pointing out that the discourse around a just transition “has yet to reach union leaders and workers at the ground level”.
Unions want more inclusion
Coal is among India’s most unionised sectors, and historically, the unions have played a significant role in amplifying workers’ voices and ensuring their social security. The researchers spoke to 15 leaders from five major coal unions, representing political affiliations across the board to gauge their views on a just transition.
“The major insight is that there is no blanket denial about energy transition among trade unions. They understand its importance and want to be an active part of the discussion,” Pradip Swarnakar, Professor of Sociology at IIT Kanpur and a co-author of the paper, told Mongabay India.
However, the level of awareness about a just transition differed among unions, with national level unions showing the most awareness about the concept. “We had to explain the concept to mid- and grassroots-level leaders to help them formulate their opinions and arguments,” the paper says.
The unions that participated in the survey included the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, All India Trade Union Congress, Centre of Indian Trade Unions, Indian National Trade Union Congress and Hind Mazdoor Sabha. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is affiliated with the ruling Bhariya Janata Party was the most aware and accepting of the just transition concept, which the researchers attribute to “their close relationship” with the ruling government.
Regardless of awareness levels, all union leaders expressed a desire to be a part of decision making processes in formulating a just transition policy. “Unions have to be included from the early stages of discussion to the planning, diversification of industries and throughout the process, otherwise workers’ concerns will never be addressed and they will be left out being vulnerable…,” a leader from a national level union was quoted as saying in the study.
In 2022, the government of Jharkhand constituted a Just Transition Task Force to come up with “path-breaking policy recommendations that will guide Jharkhand towards a forward-looking economy,” in line with India’s climate targets. Jharkhand is one of India’s top coal producing states, and employs approximately 40% of India’s coal workforce.
The union leaders, however, pointed out that the Jharkhand Task Force didn’t include labour union representatives. “Do you think they will think about the workers? All they will do is to favour the business enterprises and suppress the rights of the workers,” said a participant in the study.
Gautam Mody, general secretary of the New Trade Union Initiative, said that the starting point of justice is a dialogue. “Today, we have a government that does not meet with trade unions. The discourse is on an energy transition that is devoid of justice, because most channels of dialogue between the industry, workers, and government have collapsed”, he told Mongabay India. The New Trade Union Initiative is a federation of independent trade unions that did not participate in the study.
Union leaders who participated in the study said that strategising for a just transition should include other types of representatives apart from themselves too, such as elected panchayat representatives, environmentalists, and industrialists.
According to Swarnakar, while policy making needs to be more accommodative, trade union leaders too need to take a more active role in the just transition process, as they are doing in countries such as South Africa. “In countries that are in the advanced stages of implementing a just transition, the trade unions are seen to have strong opinions and a constructive role. Gaining a better perspective will also bolster the unions’ demand of being included in the policy making,” he said.
Mody however argues that the onus is on the government to create an environment of mutual respect and trust, “to enable a dialogue in which employers and trade unions sit together”.
“South Africa still has robust mechanisms of collective bargaining. In our context, the process of collective bargaining has collapsed,” he said, pointing to the fact that industrial strikes have declined by 75% between 2003 and 2014.
Job diversification
Last year, the Energy Transitions Working Group of the G20, which was hosted by India, agreed to call “for economic diversification, investments in new industries, workforce transformation through reskilling and upskilling” as part of a just transition.
“In India, the dependence on coal is not limited to jobs but also extends to social services being provided as part of corporate social responsibility activities of Coal India (public sector coal producer). So, the lack of job diversity is due to multiple reasons but essentially can be attributed to a combination of resource dependency and historically unequal societal structures,” added Swarnakar.
Early economic diversification is a key component of a just transition, according to a policy briefing from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis. A survey among the coal workforce in Jharkhand found that an overwhelming majority of those asked said they were willing to engage in trainings and skilling programmes to pivot to alternate livelihood opportunities, but that their adaptive capacities were low.
Coal union leaders also believed the diversification of local or regional economies would help make the energy transition smooth and more equitable.
“The coal unions’ perspectives on regional economic diversification as a potential solution to safeguard the economic security of coal- dependent workers reflect the restorative justice scholarship, which emphasises rectifying injustices caused by energy systems,” says the paper.
Meanwhile, the NITI Aayog, a public policy think-tank, has recently constituted a body to map out a just transition framework, with the aim of releasing guidelines in 2025.
“We made nine different inter-ministerial working groups, consisting of all relevant ministries, including the ministry of environment, forest and climate change, members from academia, think-tanks and industry bodies,” Anshu Bharadwaj, the programme director of the Green Transition and Climate vertical at Niti Aayog, said in an interview to the media.
This article was first published on Mongabay.
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