The coal industry is predicted to lose over 400,000 mining jobs, equivalent to almost 100 jobs per day, by 2035, even without climate commitments to phase out coal, with China and India expected to be the hardest hit, according to a new report.

The primary reason for these job losses will be the shift towards cheaper wind and solar power generation and a lack of planning for transitioning to a post-coal economy. The report, compiled by Global Energy Monitor, a US-based NGO that analyzes the international energy landscape, suggests that 990,200 coal mining jobs will cease to exist at operating mines due to the expected closures of coal facilities, potentially affecting over one-third (37 percent) of the existing workforce.

China and India are projected to bear the brunt of these job losses. China's Shanxi province is expected to see the largest number of job losses globally, with 241,900 expected by 2050, while Coal India faces the most significant potential job cuts of 73,800 by mid-century.

The report also highlights that over 90 percent of global coal production is attributable to 4,300 active and proposed coal mines and projects worldwide. Climate commitments to phase out coal power generation could accelerate ongoing trends in coal-mining job losses, even as employment in renewable energy and construction now exceeds 50 percent of total energy employment.

Coal mining jobs play a significant role in remote coal regions, acting as anchors of economic activity and supporting ancillary workforces and employment in local consumer and information economies. The vast majority of these workers are in Asia, with 2.2 million jobs in the region. China, with over 1.5 million coal miners, produces more than 85 percent of its coal, accounting for half of the world's output. India, the world's second-largest coal producer, employs approximately 337,400 miners at its operating mines.

The report emphasizes the importance of governments being involved in planning for coal worker transitions, as most mines expected to close in the coming decades have no plans in place to extend the life of those operations or manage a transition to a post-coal economy.

It underscores the need for viable transition planning to address the economic hardship and social strife that workers may face during this shift away from coal. The report calls on governments to prioritize workers and communities and actively plan for a just energy transition, drawing inspiration from successful transition planning examples in regions like Spain.