Alessandro Blasi, Special Advisor to the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency, said that the green transition requires careful management of many criteria that go beyond the concepts of energy and climate.
A successful green transition needs to take into account the position of communities that may pay the highest price, as well as fair and inclusive criteria, he wrote on LinkedIn.
Blasi emphasized that the green transition involves a change in lifestyle and transportation, as well as responsibilities that people are not used to taking on. It entails massive changes for some specific communities and industrial sectors whose business models and social equilibrium will be disrupted.
He noted that it is not fair to ignore the position of these communities, for example, communities formed around coal mining activities.
"The transition from coal is quite important when it comes to reducing pollution and emissions, but the prize of such a choice cannot be enjoyed by those who, until recently, not only carried out legal activities, but also contributed to maintaining the reliability and functioning of the old system," Blazy wrote.
According to him, ignoring this problem will be a big strategic mistake. After all, both in Europe and beyond, there are more and more evidences of confrontation in the climate debate. Thus, more and more subjects perceive the measures and policies of the green transition as a fundamental threat to their own status and future. One must consider the risk that the climate debate will focus on the fear of the consequences of global warming or the loss of one's well-being.
"These are some of the key reasons why the transition to clean energy requires careful management of many criteria," he emphasized.
As EcoPolitic reported earlier, in 2022, South Africa became the most coal-dependent country, accounting for 69% of primary energy consumption, while China and India are the largest coal consumers in absolute terms.
