(Regional) jobs vs. the climate. A Critical Discourse Analysis of the German coal phase-out debate.

Abstract: To reach its climate goals, in 2020, Germany decided to phase out coal as a particularly emissions-intensive source of energy. Although environmental associations demanded a much earlier date for the phase-out, the final coal phase-out law set the phase-out date to 2038. One factor responsible for delayed climate action are discourses that highlight the downsides of climate policies, including the negative social consequences such as the loss of industry jobs. I examine how the argument of job losses was used in the political debate in the time preceding the coal phase-out law. The analysis reveals that these arguments were less focused on the social injustices experienced at the level of the individual workers but were scaled up to the affected regions that already experienced disruptive structural change in the past. The political effort not to overburden these regions served to justify a delayed coal phase-out.