Services of nearly all fossil fuel employees will no longer be required, new data predicted.
An estimated 990,200 coal workers will be out of a job sometime before the year 2050. This is the key finding from a new study into the global energy transition’s impact on the sector.
Researchers believe technicians, mechanics, engineers, electricians, machinists, drillers, haul truck drivers, excavator operators, carpenters and blasters must eventually reskill. They will then be redeployed to hydrogen, renewable energy and other growth industries.
“Coal mine closures are inevitable but economic hardship and social strife for workers is not,” Global Energy Monitor coal mine tracker project manager Dorothy Mei said according to the Australian Associated Press.
Mei expects BHP to shut down its Mount Arthur Coal Mine sometime in the year 2030. The decision will force 2000 team members out of the operation.
Almost 500,000 people are tipped to lose their jobs worldwide before the end of 2035. The majority of redundancies will occur across Queensland (51,000), China’s Shanxi province and Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province.
Rio Tinto separately finished constructing a new 5 megawatt solar power plant at its Kennecott operation.
The 12,800 solar panel power plant will help the work site reduce operational emissions by 3000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent annually. The facility will also replace coal-fired plants that are shutting down at other mine sites.
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