New paper: The curse of coal or peripherality? Energy transitions and the socioeconomic transformation of Czech coal mining and post-mining regions

The new TIPPING⁺ paper entitled “The curse of coal or peripherality? Energy transitions and the socioeconomic transformation of Czech coal mining and post-mining regions” is now published at the Sciendo’s Moravian Geographical Reports. The paper is part of the Special Issue on "The death of coal in the energy transition? Regional perspectives”.

The paper, produced by Bohumil Frantál, Jindřich Frajer, Stanislav Martinát and Lucia Brisudová, presents new empirical evidence regarding theories of the resource curse and regional resilience in the context of energy transitions. In particular, the analysis aimed to answer the questions of what the principal differences are between coal mining and other regions in the Czech Republic, and what are the determinants of population decline, unemployment and populism as some of the key indicators of socioeconomic transformation.

The analysis revealed that (in aggregate) coal mining and post-mining districts are worse off in terms of air quality, population vitality, labour market and social capital indicators. The factors significantly affecting these phenomena are geographical (peripherality, urbanisation, population density) and socioeconomic (education level, business activity) The fact that coal mining districts are at the forefront in the implementation of wind energy may be seen as positive, but it raises questions about spatial concentration, and the environmental justice of renewable energy development.

You can read the full paper here!