Low-carbon culture? Energy transitions urged to prioritise people

HARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt – The Baltic state of Estonia relies on shale oil, a locally mined fossil fuel, to generate power – and despite a short-term boost in production to fill a gap in electricity imports after Russia invaded Ukraine, it is sticking to targets to ditch the polluting fuel. The government has committed to phase out shale-oil power plants by 2035 and end production by 2040. As part of the plan, it is also helping communities whose incomes are tied to the fuel to map out a new green future for their young people.
At the COP27 climate summit in Egypt this month, Kädi Ristkok, director of the climate department at Estonia’s Ministry of Environment, explained that the move away from shale oil in the northeastern county of Ida-Viru – where it accounts for almost half of GDP – will affect about 1,50,000 people. Since 2020, efforts to create a “Territorial Just Transition Plan”, approved earlier this year, have consulted with local people – from youth to labour unions and government officials – on how they view their development needs as the shale oil industry is phased out.
The vision that emerged was of economic restructuring based on renewable energy and modern, greener manufacturing, as well as services, with young people – as in many other places – hoping to find jobs in the creative and IT sectors. That has highlighted the need to provide re-skilling, new forms of professional education and incubation for startups, besides environmental restoration work to rectify the damage to nature from shale oil mining over the past century. All of this costs money – which Estonia, as a European Union member state, has been able to win from an EU mechanism set up to fund a “just transition” under the bloc’s Green Deal, designed to help it meet its climate goals.
In October, the EU announced that Estonia would receive 354 million euros ($368 million) in grants from its “just transition” fund to support the phase-out of shale oil by developing renewable energy and “high value-added” green jobs.

Opportunities scarce

To reach its goal of sourcing 70 per cent of its energy from renewables by 2030 and becoming carbon-neutral by mid-century, Papua New-Guinea (PNG) will need to start training its people for new jobs in clean energy, such as solar, said Rensie Panda, Acting Policy Manager in the Papua New Guinea (PNG) National Energy Authority.
But in many parts of the world, including Africa, those skills are still hard to come by, said Ben Odongo, an energy youth fellow with the U.N. climate champions team. In Uganda, young people have found it far easier to get training to work in the oil and gas industry – with the government planning to exploit and export its reserves via the East African Crude Oil Pipeline in coming years – than in renewables, he said.
“If you want to learn about (clean energy), it takes a lot of personal dedication,” he said. The government and businesses are not making enough effort to create green opportunities for young people, who are increasingly aware of how fossil fuels are driving climate change, he added.