This paper compares different just transition pathways in China, the European Union and the United States of America by comparing the current state of the coal sector and just transition policies away from coal. How can social justice in the energy transition be achieved under different models of energy governance? Since these three blocs have only made some progress on just transition policies and legislations for workers and communities impacted by the coal phase down or phase out in recent years, there have not been many studies comparing them to each other. The analysis in this paper shows that while all three blocs work towards ensuring the integration of coal workers and coal communities into the clean economy in the process of coal reduction, their approaches to achieving a just transition differ in terms of policy frameworks, financing resources, specific measures and public participation. This paper is part of a series of FEEM working papers of comparison studies of China, the EU and the US in the field of climate and energy.

This paper compares the different multi-level climate and energy governance in China, the European Union and the United States. While many comparisons across these three economies exist, they concentrate on comparing the climate and energy "policy instruments" and their results. This paper puts a focus on the importance of institutionalized multi-level governance processes, i.e., the "politics" -the actors and interaction processes inherent in a mode of governance, and the "polities" -the institutional setting. How are priorities and targets decided from both bottom-up and top-down processes? How do the central governments exert control over local authorities and ensure the implementation of their policies? How do the central governments enforce and evaluate the results of the policies? And finally, how do citizens play a role in the multi-level governance in these three blocs? Analysis of multilevel governance highlights the importance of target setting and cadre evaluation in China whereas legislation is the dominant process in the EU and the US.

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This work compares the different decarbonization strategies of the power sector in China, the European Union and the United States, by considering the historical evolution of electricity generation and the current situation. Such a comparison is gaining a broader significance when evaluated with an additional level of geographic detail, by comparing European countries, Chinese provinces, and US states. The differences among these geographies highlight the challenges and opportunities of pushing towards low-carbon technologies, by making clear that regional decarbonization will need to address very different local contexts. Moreover, multiple policy and planning levels are involved, and those mechanisms are different in the three blocs being compared. Our analysis shows that these three blocs, although moving towards similar decarbonization targets, are currently at different levels of carbon intensity. The zero-carbon pathway will need to be declined in different local goals, based on the availability of low-carbon resources and the electricity demand. Given the geographical differences between demand and supply, and the likely increase of electricity demand, an improvement of power transmission networks will be essential. This work is part of a series of papers on the geopolitics of the energy transition in China, the European Union and the United States of America.

Securing decarbonized road transport -a comparison of how EV deployment has become a critical dimension of battery security strategies for China, the EU, and the US.