The aim of this project is to engage with coalfield communities in India to develop a replicable framework for a just transition that is participatory , bottom-up and socially inclusive .
India’s recent coal expansion invites us to investigate how coal-dependent communities envisage justice in transitioning to a fossil fuel free future. In the coalfield microcosm a range of different groups rely on, or are affected by, the coal economy including mine workers, local administrators, displaced indigenous people, informal coal scavengers as well as nearby smallholder farmers and pastoralists. The project engages with the lived experiences of different coalfield groups to explain the challenges involved in transitioning to a fossil-free future in
blackened coal landscapes where few alternative livelihoods exist at the moment. This project fulfils an urgent need: to invite communities to think about a coal-free future and find alternative means for living based on a bottom-up view.