Paper Short Abstract:

The speech aims to show how the fear of losing financial security as a result of the costs of energy transition affects the perception of climate change and environmental threats among residents and employees of coal basins as well as environments and people vulnerable to economic pressure.

Paper Abstract:

Energy transition can make energy production more sustainable and support policies to protect the climate, air and water. In the socio-economic dimension, however, not everyone will benefit from it. Namely, the effects of energy transition will include deindustrialisation, which may be dramatic, particularly in coal basins. For the green transition not to become only a slogan for the market and advertising sector, it must meet the conditions of just transition and include fair social policy. Without respect for the principles of justice and equality, the goals of the green transition may be rejected by the people’s classes, including the confused working class. Fears and risks of the costs of energy transition may be political fuel for right-wing populists.

This speech will be based on empirical data from the Turów lignite basin located on the border of Poland, the Czech Republic and Germany, as well as focus group interviews conducted with older people who are worried about rising heating costs. The perception of coal and climate change among the residents of coal basins is directly related to their concerns about the loss of economic security. If the green transition is reduced to the development of the eco-sector of the capitalist economy, and people from lower classes are deprived of jobs and economic security as a result of deindustrialisation, the principles of both ecology and social justice will suffer. The green transition as a real social change must include both environmental protection and a more egalitarian socio-economic perspective.