Coal regions in transition: the RHOMOLO-IO indirect jobs estimates

• Coal accounts for nearly a quarter of the total electricity production in the EU and provides jobs to around 240,000 people in mines and power plants.
• The European Commission is working in order to ensure a smooth transition to cleaner forms of energy production and to implement innovative technologies such as carbon capture and storage to meet the commitment to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 40% by 2030.
• There are currently around 200 coal-fired power plants in more than 100 NUTS-2 EU regions and over 120 mines in 41 regions employing almost 240,000 workers in total.
• In 2017, the Platform for Coal Regions in Transition was launched to minimise the economic and social impact of decarbonisation.
• Reliable data are key for the management of the transition and estimates of the number of jobs indirectly related to coal activities are needed.
• This Policy Insight presents the indirect jobs estimated using the input-output (IO) data of the RHOMOLO-IO modelling framework. The estimates suggest that 215,000 additional jobs can be potentially affected by the shift away from coal towards a low-carbon economy.

Authors:

MANDRAS Giovanni, CONTE Andrea, SALOTTI Simone