Comparing Coal Commissions

To meet international climate targets, a phase-out of coal over the next few decades is needed. Progress on coal phase-outs has been slow, but societal pressure to finally deliver on climate change mitigation is growing. Over the last few years, several countries took the approach of setting up stakeholder commissions to organise their coal phase-outs. In this policy brief, we examine and compare the commissions of Germany, Canada, the Czech Republic and Chile, and briefly highlight Spain’s and South Africa’s similar approaches on how to organise a Just Transition. The respective national governments experienced to varying degrees political, economic, and societal pressure to deal with the future of coal. Simultaneously, they were confronted with uncertainties on how to organise the decline and how to overcome resistance against the decline.