Digital Dilemmas in Just Transitions: Lessons from India’s Coal Heartland

Date: Monday, Oct 13

Time: 11:00 - 11:15 (15 mins)

Session Types: Lightning Talk

This Lightning Talk will explore the role of digital technologies during the energy transition of regions across Asia Pacific using case stories from India’s two districts, Ramgarh and Bokaro (Jharkhand, India). As net-zero and just transition efforts accelerate the global phase-down of fossil fuels, including coal, communities dependent on mining face potential economic distress, unemployment, and social dislocation. Consequently, it is imperative to ensure a just transition that does not leave dependent communities behind in the process of achieving net zero. Such an approach requires inclusive, localised and decentralised solutions. In this light, digital technologies, including electrotechnologies, have become one such approach towards enabling what has been proposed as a more ‘sustainable shift’. However, digital technologies play both enabling and disruptive roles. On the positive side, digital technologies offer pathways for reskilling displaced workers, enabling new livelihood options like digital agriculture, forest monitoring, and solar energy systems which can be managed by local communities (eg. Self help groups) and E-governance platforms can improve access to welfare schemes, finance, and markets, particularly for rural and remote populations.
However, rapid digitisation is also a double-edged sword. It generates e-waste (e.g., discarded solar panels), increases reliance on precarious gig work with few protections, and deepens digital exclusion due to poor infrastructure and the gender digital divide. Many communities lack the digital literacy and connectivity to fully benefit from such initiatives. This talk highlights the dual potential of digital in just transitions, empowering communities or reinforcing inequalities. It urges policymakers and practitioners to design digital interventions that are context-specific, environmentally responsible, and inclusive of marginalized groups, ensuring that technology serves justice, not just efficiency.

Moderators/Speakers: Deeksha Pande, Maitri Singh, Rishi Kishore