With plans to close mines around the world and a market shift to wind and solar power as cheap and clean energy sources, around 1 million miners are at risk of being laid off by 2050.
The Global Coal Mine Tracker report, prepared by the international think tank Global Energy Monitor (GEM), published employment data at 4,300 active and planned coal mines, accounting for 90% of global coal production.
The world’s active coal mines directly employ 2.7 million miners, according to the study, which was announced as the first in this context.
It is estimated that by 2035, about half a million people will be laid off in the coal industry. This means that on average 100 workers per day will face the risk of being laid off.
With projected mine closures, it is estimated that around 1 million jobs will be lost by 2050.
Of the total coal mine employment, 2.2 million are in Asia, with mine closures expected to have the largest impact on employment in China and India.
More than 1.5 million miners work in the mines of China, which accounts for more than half of the world’s coal production. India, the world’s second largest coal producer, employs 337,400 coal miners, according to official data.
These two countries are followed by Indonesia with 160,000 miners, Russia with 109,000 and Europe with 90,000, mostly in Poland.
Indian state-owned Coal India is the top company facing 73,800 layoffs by 2050.
In Turkey, an estimated 12,000 people are employed in mines, and there is a risk that 2,000 miners will be unemployed by 2050.
Commenting on the report, Dorothy May, head of the GEM Global Coal Mine Tracker project, noted that the closure of coal mines is inevitable, only through joint systemic efforts can the economic and social problems that await miners be avoided.
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