How to compute the cost for workers within the “Just Transition” to a low-carbon future?
Witajewski-Baltvilks, Jan ; Boratyński, Jakub ; Jeszke, Robert ; Pyrka, Maciej
Centre for Climate and Energy Analyses, Warsaw
CAKE - Warsaw
2022
31 p.
climate change ; sustainable development ; decarbonization ; economic impact ; social impact ; miner ; coal mining
Economic development
English
Bibliogr.;Charts
"In this paper CAKE proposes a novel methodology that allows to compute the loss of workers throughout the low-carbon transition. CAKE uses microeconomic theory supported with empirical evidence to argue that for many workers in mining sector their current payoff in mining is significantly larger than their potential payoff in other sectors. Next, CAKE incorporates framework in a numerical economic model to compute the loss of workers throughout the low-carbon transition in Poland. CAKE finds that the costs of transition in Poland will be increasing over time and reach 1% of labour compensation in 2040. The cost associated with the loss of workers who were previously employed in the mining sector would amount to more than US$1.1B, close to 0.5% of total labour compensation in Poland in 2040.
Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models predict that the transition to a low-carbon future generates economic costs because low-carbon inputs cannot substitute for their carbon-intensive counterparts without loss of productivity. CAKE argues that there is an additional cost of transition associated with the movement of labour across sectors. ..."
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