How do we tackle the climate crisis without neglecting people whose livelihoods depend on polluting industries?
And what happens when they’re left behind?
A Just Transition is about transforming the economy in ways that are fair for everyone - whether you mine coal or crypto, whether you work in the city or on a plantation, whether you’re an activist or an industrialist.
In Series 1 of this podcast from Context, join host Iman Amrani and our journalists in Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, India and the United States to hear extraordinary stories about how the Just Transition is playing out across the globe.
Publisher
A Context podcast from the Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tigers, robots and unintended consequences: Two stories from India
India is the world's second largest coal producer after China. But it has committed to changing its energy profile drastically to meet climate change targets. As you will hear from our correspondents Anuradha Nagaraj and Roli Srivastava, the pace of that change is having unexpected consequences.
In the town of Chandrapur, Maharashtra, coal mining has led to an unexpected revival of local ecology, and deaths from tiger and leopard attacks. Sand dumped from the mining process has created new hills in the countryside which have become an accidental refuge for large predators.
In the southern town of Pavagada in the state of Karnataka, a government scheme to buy farmland for a solar park was initially popular. Local farmers were promised jobs and a better future. That optimism is fading as people learn the solar park will use robots to maintain the solar panels.
Read the full story on tigers invading India's villages here: https://tmsnrt.rs/3V72o7X
Read the full story on India's biggest solar parks here: https://bit.ly/3giNBsi
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
14 Nov 2022
Canada's future: Decarbonise and decolonise
Canada is one of the world's largest exporters of oil and gas. Much of that oil moves through pipelines that run through lands where the country's original inhabitants, or First Nations, live.
The history of Canada's relationship with its 1.67 million First Nations communities is heavy with brutal violence, abuse and marginalisation.
In 2015, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission called for the country to build a better relationship with First Nations in all aspects of life and work, including “economic reconciliation.”
With growing demand for renewable energy and a reduction in oil and gas use, what does that reconciliation look like?
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
7 Nov 2022
Green and going greener: a story from Akureyri, Iceland
About a decade ago, the Icelandic city of Akureyri asked itself a question: Can we become carbon neutral? Catch and repurpose literally all of our pollution? They decided to try.
Burned by the 2008 financial crisis that crushed Iceland's economy, the nation learned a lesson that they've applied to the climate crisis: don't spend what you don't have. That attitude drove Akureyri's carbon neutral revolution.
From methane-powered buses, to biodiesel plants running on used cooking oil, to composting the town's food waste, Akureyri is close to its goal. But has this green shift been a just transition?
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
31 Oct 2022
From coal to crypto: Mining in Appalachia
Eastern Kentucky is a region that can’t leave mining behind.
It has long been coal country, but mining jobs have dried up as the world weans itself off coal.
As old mines close, new miners are moving in, working the digital terrain for a prize you cannot see: cryptocurrency.
Our correspondent Avi Asher-Schapiro takes us to Appalachia where cheap land, tax breaks and a well-developed energy grid make for perfect bitcoin mining conditions.
But this new economy is not likely to create many new jobs or reduce Kentucky’s carbon footprint.
Banks of powerful servers run day and night, consuming huge amounts of electricity – in this case, electricity from coal and natural gas.
Outside investors and some local players stand to get rich.
But the thousands of former coal miners are not at the table.
Read the full story on Context here: https://bit.ly/3NocVcn
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
24 Oct 2022
Tipping points and breaking ships: a story from Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of a handful of countries where the world’s ships go to die.
From tankers to cargo ships and cruise liners, the boats are run aground and broken up for scrap, often by hand.
It’s one of the most dangerous recycling jobs there is. Death and injuries are common among workers who lack protective equipment.
Oil, asbestos and ozone-destroying gases are regularly released into the environment.
Is there a way for this industry to do better? And is clean shipbreaking even possible?
Correspondent Naimul Karim takes us to Cox’s Bazaar to meet shipbreakers and activists, and explores new efforts to make the business greener and safer.
Read the full story on Context here: https://bit.ly/3z7nRFe
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
17 Oct 2022
The price of sweetness: a story from Brazil
Slavery has been illegal in Brazil for more than a century. But as our correspondent Fabio Teixeira discovered, thousands of workers on the country’s huge sugarcane plantations continue to endure forced labour and dangerous working conditions.
At the same time, Brazil’s sugarcane industry has become a major global supplier of ethanol - a biofuel meant to help cut the use of fossil fuels and carbon emissions.
Fabio takes us into the fields where laborers spend the day bent over, hacking away at sugarcane stalks in perilous heat, with a growing number falling sick. And we learn that some of these plantations, with a record of abusive practices, have international clients in the United States and Europe.
Read the full story on Context here: https://bit.ly/3MEFthk
Sign up for our newsletter, Climate. Change. for more analysis on the climate crisis - directly from the ground at: https://bit.ly/3T1oDvn
5 Oct 2022
Introducing: Just Transition
How do we tackle the climate crisis without neglecting people whose livelihoods depend on polluting industries?
And what happens when they’re left behind?
A Just Transition is about transforming the economy in ways that are fair for everyone - whether you mine coal or crypto, whether you work in the city or on a plantation, whether you’re an activist or an industrialist.
In Series 1 of this podcast from Context, join host Iman Amrani and our journalists in Bangladesh, Brazil, Canada, Iceland, India and the United States to hear extraordinary stories about how the Just Transition is playing out across the globe.
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