Repurposing Coal Mining Lands for a Just Transition - Methods, Financing Options and Governance Solutions (English)

The present paper is the first attempt to provide a new blueprint for proactivelyaddressing coal mining lands within a Just Transition framework. It arguesthat traditional approaches to mine land remediation can only go so far in offering coal transitioning communities with the natural capital badly needed for economicdiversification. Rather, the present paper proposes that a new approach to treatingpost-mining lands would have the objective of repurposing: putting former mininglands into future use states that offer investment and public use opportunities forprivate sector and citizens alike. Such an innovative approach, as developed and nowbeing piloted by the World Bank in several coal transitioning countries, relies not onlyon new methods and tools for assessing lands and planning their use; it equallyrequires thinking differently about how the process of mining land repurposing isinstitutionally managed. Furthermore, by thinking very differently about the future useof mining lands and establishing structures to effectively govern these transformativeprocesses, we can begin to unlock new financial solutions.