A just transition away from coal in Australia

As the climate emergency worsens and heads of state prepare for COP26 in Glasgow, Australia’s domestic electricity remains coal-dependent while Australia remains the world’s largest coal exporter. The nation's ability to achieve a just transition will have significant implications for broader efforts to decarbonise in both Asia-Pacific and the world, both directly through the coal supply chains it enables and indirectly through Australia’s regional diplomacy and development aid.

By conducting a rapid evidence review that builds on existing work combined with new interviews and focus groups drawn from Government, industry and civil society in Canberra, NSW and Queensland, this project examines how a ‘just transition’ is being defined in Australia. It explores the key challenges to achieving it, and sets out a new, broader approach to just transition which will help shape global efforts to justly achieve the climate action that is urgently needed.

This project is funded through the British Academy’s Just Transitions to Decarbonisation in the Asia-Pacific programme.

Contributors: Associate Professor Gareth Edwards, Professor Susan Park, Dr Robert MacNeil