Environment is critical in an age of climate-driven floods, heat-waves, hurricanes and wild-fires. As the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide, China has pledged to achieve carbon-neutrality by 2060, which will greatly affect its mining industry. It is foreseen that thousands of mines will be forced to restructure or close down, while millions of miners and workers in subsidiary industries will be laid off.
The question is how and to what extent the policy of carbon-neutrality will affect mining-dependent communities. For this reason, the project will examine perceptual differences along formal, actual and targeted lines of mining closures, and assess policies’ impact on mining livelihoods, employment and social structures. It will do so with reference to China and selected other mining regions in the world.