Title page
Contents
Executive Summary 10
1. A Just Transition in China's Coal Regions: Policies and Challenges 15
1.1. Role of Coal in China's Energy System 15
1.2. China's Policies on Coal Transition 17
1.3. Challenges with Coal Region Just Transition in China 22
2. Study Scope and Approach 23
2.1. Concept and Practices of Just Transition 23
2.2. Study Questions and Approach 24
3. Case Study 1: Wuhai, Inner Mongolia 26
3.1. Overview 26
3.2. Efforts to Address the Coal Worker Unemployment Issue 29
3.3. Economic Diversification to Create Non-coal Jobs 33
4. Case Study 2: Tongchuan, Shaanxi 41
4.1. Overview 41
4.2. Efforts to Address the Coal Worker Unemployment Issue 44
4.3. Economic Diversification to Create Non-coal Jobs 48
5. Conclusions and Policy Recommendations 53
5.1. Conclusions 53
5.2. Policy Recommendations 56
Endnotes 58
Table 1. Policies for the transition and development of resource-based cities 19
Table 3-1. Resettlement Policy Taken by Shenhua Wuhai Energy Company 32
Table 4-1. Measures Taken by the State-owned Mining Company in Tongchuan 46
Figure 1-1. Coal Production, Consumption, and Employment in Coal Mining and Dressing, China (1980-2021) 16
Figure 2-1. Evaluation Framework Used in the Study 25
Figure 3-1. Wuhai's Coal Production and GDP, 2000-2022 27
Figure 3-2. Changes in the Main Environmental Indicators of Wuhai City 28
Figure 3-3. Population, Average Wage and Disposable Income of Urban Residents in Wuhai 29
Figure 3-4. Coal Mining and Washing Job Employment, Wuhai 30
Figure 3-5. Wuhai's Economic Diversification Strategies 34
Figure 3-6. Number of Employees by Industry in 2021, Wuhai 38
Figure 4-1. Tongchuan's GDP and Coal Production in 2000-2022 42
Figure 4-2. Changes in the Main Environmental Indicators of Tongchuan City 43
Figure 4-3. Population, Average Wage and Disposable Income of Urban Residents in Tongchuan 44
Figure 4-4. Number of Mining Jobs in Tongchuan City, 1997-2019 45
Figure 4-5. Tongchuan's Economic Diversification Strategy 48
Figure 4-6. Percentage of New Industries in the Industrial Sector GDP 52
Figure 4-7. Number of Employment by Industry in 2021, Tongchuan 52
Figure 5-1/Figure 7. Proposed Framework for Economic Diversification 54