Organising for the energy transition: labour, energy democracy, and the climate emergency

Franziska Christina Paul and Andrew Cumbers

Chapter 32 in Handbook of Labour Geography, 2025, pp 529-541 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: We draw upon ongoing research into labour agency and its geographies in the energy sector to problematise how workers and trade unions are situated with regard to the politics of the climate emergency. Continuing tensions are evident between environmental groups and workers in carbon-based sectors, with the latter often seen as impediments to transitioning to an economy based upon renewable energy. Yet, any meaningful collective politics to address the present climate emergency must incorporate the voice of workers and labour unions and their differential social and spatial positioning. Drawing upon evidence from two recent developments, the remunicipalisation of the energy sector in Germany and the global movement-building efforts of the international labour network Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED), the chapter explores some of the key fault lines and tensions present in, but also opportunities for, building a meaningful just transition that has workers at its core.

Keywords: Labour geographies; Energy democracy; Climate emergency; Remunicipalisation; Trade union organising; Just transition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781785363399
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