Hear Beck Pearce talk on the 30 August about Australia’s energy workforce, the latest talk in a series about society and climate. Morning tea is included so bring a mug!

In this talk, Beck provides notes from the field and insights from a labour study of the industrial transformations set in train by the ‘net zero’ climate mitigation goal. The decarbonisation of Australia’s economy involves major workforce transitions. The closures of coal fired power stations and mines creates concentrated job losses and regional economic restructuring. Meanwhile, the renewable energy rollout is sparking major growth in the renewable energy sector across all locations in the new energy value chains. The project uses a comparative industrial sociology of workers in different segments of the NSW and ACT energy sector to shed light on lives and livelihoods enrolled in an important and contested sector in the Australian economy. It applies and elaborates the conceptual framework developed by Beck Pearse and Gareth Bryant to theorise the value relations of energy labour in transition (Pearse & Bryant, 2021). Insights from this study will be important for government, industry and civil society institutions seeking to support workers through industrial transformation on an equitable basis.

Beck Pearse is a sociologist with a background researching the political economy of climate and energy policy, inequalities and rural issues. Beck’s current research projects investigate labour and land relations in the industrial transition to a 'net zero' economy. Beck's doctoral thesis was published as a monograph Pricing Carbon in Australia (Routledge/Earthscan, 2018).

Please RSVP to: Sarah.Boddington@anu.edu.au, or Rebecca.Blackburn@anu.edu.au or Hannah.Feldman@anu.edu.au