Beyond the Coal Rush
A Turning Point for Global Energy and Climate Policy?

Climate change makes fossil fuels unburnable, but how can the world stop mining coal - the worst source of greenhouse gas emissions?

James Goodman (Author), Linda Connor (Author), Devleena Ghosh (Author), Kanchi Kohli (Author), Jonathan Paul Marshall (Author), Manju Menon (Author), Katja Mueller (Author), Tom Morton (Author), Rebecca Pearse (Author), Stuart Rosewarne (Author)

9781108479820, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 November 2020

288 pages, 7 b/w illus.
17.5 x 25 x 2 cm, 0.67 kg

Climate change makes fossil fuels unburnable, yet global coal production has almost doubled over the last 20 years. This book explores how the world can stop mining coal - the most prolific source of greenhouse gas emissions. It documents efforts at halting coal production, focusing specifically on how campaigners are trying to stop coal mining in India, Germany, and Australia. Through in-depth comparative ethnography, it shows how local people are fighting to save their homes, livelihoods, and environments, creating new constituencies and alliances for the transition from fossil fuels. The book relates these struggles to conflicts between global climate policy and the national coal-industrial complex. With coal's meaning transformed from an important asset to a threat, and the coal industry declining, it charts reasons for continuing coal dependence, and how this can be overcome. It will provide a source of inspiration for energy transition for researchers in environment, sustainability, and politics, as well as policymakers.

Introduction
Chapter 1. The Global Contest over Coal and Development
Chapter 2. India: Coercion, Impunity and the Fight for Adivasi Rights in Chhattisgarh
Chapter 3. Australia: Contesting Coal Capital on the Liverpool Plains
Chapter 4. Germany: Globalizing the Local to Reach the National, Protest against Coal in the Lausitz
Chapter 5. Foundations for the Coal Rush: The post-War 'Coal-Industrial Complex'
Chapter 6. Kyoto and the Coal Boom: Coal's Climate Contradictions
Chapter 7. Coal in a Climate-constrained World: the Last Gasp?
Chapter 8. Concluding Chapter: Dynamics for a Post-Coal Future
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Alternative & renewable energy sources & technology [THX], Climate change [RNPG], Science funding & policy [PDK], Coal & solid fuel industries [KNBC]