From Coal to Chlorophyll: Identifying Green Job Opportunities for Youth in the case of South Africa’s Just Transition

From Coal to Chlorophyll: Identifying Green Job Opportunities for Youth in the case of South Africa’s Just Transition | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article From Coal to Chlorophyll: Identifying Green Job Opportunities for Youth in the case of South Africa’s Just Transition Robert Hill, Leigh Neethling, Morne Oosthuizen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6990621/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract In an attempt to mitigate their effect on climate change, a number of economies have already, or are in the process of shifting away from a reliance on coal-based power. This just energy transition means that many existing jobs in the coal industry will be lost in favour of so-called “green jobs”, which aim to contribute positively and sustainably to the environment. South Africa is one such economy that is embarking on the process of a just transition, but given that the coal industry is predominantly represented by young people in the province of Mpumalanga, it is not clear how or if this vulnerable group will transition into newly created green jobs. Making use of occupational relatedness metrics, this research investigates the feasibility of green job opportunities to capture displaced youth in Mpumalanga, depending on their employment history. Results of this desktop study suggest that green jobs are relatively different to the existing experience and task competences of young people, and thus some form of reskilling programme is likely to be necessary for young people to take full advantage of any employment opportunities offered by green jobs. Just transition green jobs youth employment occupational relatedness coal transition Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Revision Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Jul, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 07 Jul, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 01 Jul, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 Jun, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6990621","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":482860675,"identity":"e1b570db-9bfd-4bca-bc49-1935154abf38","order_by":0,"name":"Robert Hill","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA20lEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHjCZwMbO3PiABC0JQC3MjM0GDAwGJGhhYGZskyBKi3l778HHlT8Y8viAWqp5av4w8LcfYP7wA48WmTPnkg3PJDAUAx3WdpvnmAGDBJBn2INHi4REjplkQwJDYhtIC28D0GE3gA7lwa/F/CdMSzFIizxQy8E/BGxhhGlhBmkxuMHA2IzXFp5zyZINaRIgLc2Sc44Z8xieSWxmlsGnhb334McGG5vE+e3NBz+8qZGTkzt++PDHN3i0wHTCWUAnMTYQ1jAKRsEoGAWjAC8AALP0QP2xeIhRAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Town","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Robert","middleName":"","lastName":"Hill","suffix":""},{"id":482860676,"identity":"76d333d9-a46f-480a-932b-51030fb16fed","order_by":1,"name":"Leigh Neethling","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Town","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Leigh","middleName":"","lastName":"Neethling","suffix":""},{"id":482860680,"identity":"e153744e-13e3-4f08-9404-2335c8979f16","order_by":2,"name":"Morne Oosthuizen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Cape Town","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Morne","middleName":"","lastName":"Oosthuizen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-27 10:23:12","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6990621/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6990621/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":91456930,"identity":"a7aced12-d511-4b7d-a285-6db201d6048c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-16 16:30:55","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":879499,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"20250701GreenJobsJournal.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6990621/v1_covered_15fe441d-fbe4-4560-9f1b-76f238789a4f.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"From Coal to Chlorophyll: Identifying Green Job Opportunities for Youth in the case of South Africa’s Just Transition","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"networks-and-spatial-economics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"nets","sideBox":"Learn more about [Networks and Spatial Economics](http://link.springer.com/journal/11067)","snPcode":"11067","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/11067/3","title":"Networks and Spatial Economics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"em","reportingPortfolio":"Springer Hybrid","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Just transition, green jobs, youth employment, occupational relatedness, coal transition","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6990621/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6990621/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eIn an attempt to mitigate their effect on climate change, a number of economies have already, or are in the process of shifting away from a reliance on coal-based power. 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