Unions, fossil fuel workers, and the energy transition: learning from plant closures in Finland and the U.S

Energy-related emissions account for nearly 85 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Consequently, the energy sector is a primary focus of climate policies aimed at mitigating global warming, and a transition to low-carbon and net-zero energy systems and economies is at the focus of many national and international decarbonization policies. Like other economic restructuring projects, the energy transition is not a singular process but instead is unfolding as multiple interdependent processes across geographical and temporal scales. In these processes, transitions to renewable and low-carbon energy sources also translate to transitioning away from hydrocarbons and their attendant socio-economic and socio-cultural production systems. In their most tangible form, these low-carbon transitions manifest themselves in local contexts as plant-level and industry closures that – unless carefully managed – have the potential to not only upend local socioeconomic realities but also to fuel discontent against the broader societal programme of the low-carbon transition. In this article, we take a focus on two such local low-carbon transitions – the closure of coal-fired Hanasaari power plant in Helsinki, Finland and the sudden closure of the Marathon Petroleum oil refinery in Contra Costa County, California, US – as case studies of plant-level closures that reflect several experienced transition injustices. However, our analysis goes beyond merely documenting and comparing injustices across these transition contexts. Against the backdrop of literatures on radical energy justice and the role of labour unions as just transition actors, our analysis sheds light on both the interpretations of justice labour unions work to advance and different ways in which union responses in individual plant closure contexts have broadened the unions’ scope of interest and agency in just transition related broader political and societal agendas.Failures in including labour in transition planning can contribute to mass unemployment of fossil-fuel workers, labour shortages in the green energy sector and resistance to the green transition and other sustainability reforms.The expertise of labour unions regarding their members’ skills and needs should be incorporated into transition planning.Transition plans should grant labour and workers a formal role in the transition planning and implementation. This role may vary in different social and political contexts.Transition planning should include robust local and regional economic development plans that prioritize decent jobs that impart good wages and fair working conditions. These plans should be designed collaboratively with industry, government, local community and union representatives.