ABSTRACT
From the 19th century, León was home to a coal mining industry that fueled Spain’s industrial and urban development. The decline began in the 1970s when it opened up to international markets. By 2020, all coal mines and coal-fired power plants were closed. While the mining sector received compensation, secondary impacts of the closures fell upon people previously employed in other industries or unemployed—women, young people, and minorities. This chapter presents accounts of these marginalized groups, both of continued hardship and also of re-emergence.
Overall, the narratives and experiences collected during this research illuminate the persistent disconnection between top-down policy interventions and grassroots realities. While the transition has opened up new opportunities for some, young people, women, and migrants—key groups disproportionately affected by the transition—face systemic barriers that limit their capacity to participate in shaping their region’s future. Despite these challenges, many are mobilizing innovative, community-driven initiatives to foster local resilience and redefine regional identity.
Making sure all voices are heard and enabling an exchange among them, however, is critical for addressing disenfranchisement with decarbonization policies while promoting the emergence of a societal sense of fairness and the much-needed multicultural and pluralistic models of change that adapting to a changing climate and its large-scale and long-term impacts and implications entails.
