Majority of Aussie coal-mining jobs expected to go by 2050 as the fuel is phased out around the world

Coal communities will need a transition plan that extends beyond the pit, with Queensland labeled as one of the worst-hit mine closure regions in the world.

Queensland will be one of the hardest-hit coal regions in the world, behind China’s Shanxi and Indonesia’s East Kalimantan, a global report on the future of the sector shows.

Nearly half a million coal miners are expected to lose their jobs by 2035 as old mines are depleted, according to a report released Tuesday by independent energy researchers at the United States-based Global Energy Monitor (GEM).

As the largest source of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, coal is the first type of fuel expected to be phased out in the coming decades.

That means the time frame for being out of work falls within the career of a coal miner working today, including many of the 2,000 at Mount Arthur in NSW that will close by 2030.

Coal has also served as the economic foundation for entire communities, requiring a transition plan that extends beyond the pit to small businesses and workshops, empty shopping centers, impoverished schools and new housing needs.

“Coal mine closures are inevitable, but economic hardship and social strife for workers are not,” said Coal Tracker project manager Dorothy Mei.

Based on mines in operation, almost one million (990,200) coal mining jobs will no longer exist by 2050 – including three-quarters of Australia’s jobs.

The workforce in the coal mine tracker includes various skills and processes, including technicians, mechanics, engineers, electricians, machinists, drillers, truck drivers, excavator operators, carpenters and blasters.

While most projections show that the transition to renewable energy will create millions more jobs, those jobs may not be in the same communities and may require extensive retraining.

The call for a ‘just transition’ for coal workers began decades ago amid job losses from mechanization, automation, outsourcing and the transfer of jobs to cheaper locations.

Global warming, promises to cut emissions and community outcry over new coal mines are behind the latest calls for support for coal workers to switch to new jobs.

The shift to renewables will help replace lost coal mining jobs, but not always in the same areas.

“The coal industry itself bears responsibility for the sector’s unpredictable future,” the report said.

However, most of the mines expected to close in the coming decades had no plans to extend the life of those operations or manage a transition to a post-coal economy, the researchers found.

Despite being a major coal producer, highly mechanized Australia has only 51,000 directly employed in the mines.

Mechanized mining uses drone monitoring, driverless haul trucks, conveyor systems and automated longwall machines, meaning there are 98 workers employed for every tonne of coal produced in Australia, compared to 404 in China or 822 in Poland.

Australia is also among the leaders in extending coal operations, the report said.

Operations actively pursuing coal mine life extension approvals were primarily in China (36), Australia (21), India (15) and Russia (13).