South African Coal Heartland Is Ill-Prepared for Energy Transition

09/26/2023 19:22
South African Coal Heartland Is Ill-Prepared for Energy Transition

South Africa’s main coal producing province of Mpumalanga, the focus of the country’s $8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership, has received no government funding to help workers and communities find alternative livelihoods, a new study shows.

  • Coal-plant closures will cost Mpumalanga province 48,500 jobs
  • Many more jobs in the coal-supply value chain will be affected

A truck transports coal towards the Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd. Kendal coal-fired power station in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

South Africa’s main coal producing province of Mpumalanga, the focus of the country’s $8.5 billion Just Energy Transition Partnership, has received no government funding to help workers and communities find alternative livelihoods, a new study shows.

The province, which accounts for 83% of national coal production, will lose 48,500 jobs at power plants and the mines that feed them by 2030 due to closures, Krutham, a South Africa-focused research organization, said in a report released on Tuesday.

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