| dc.description.abstract | The transformation of the German automotive industry is crucial in mitigating transport related pollution and cutting greenhouse gas emissions. This has significant and differentiated implications for carmakers, their suppliers and autoworkers, altering the organisation and functioning of global automotive production networks. EV manufacturing not only changes conditions for workers at engine factories or car assembly plants in Germany, it also affects global labour such as workers employed in natural resource extraction, raw material mining and chemical processing across the world economy. Warning against potentially unequal distribution of burdens of environmental pollution regulations and introduction of emissions reduction technologies/products, the concept of just transition aims to protect workers and their communities, which are dependent on existing fossil fuel sectors. Incorporated in 2015 into the Paris Agreement as part of the UNFCCC negotiations, the concept of just transition is promoted by intergovernmental institutions and some governments, especially in the case of coal phase-out. Combining the social, environmental and economic aspects of sustainability/energy transitions, just transition is also key for national and international labour organisations. This thesis investigates the extent to which the proliferation of EV manufacturing in Germany contributes to a just transition to a low-carbon economy, with its winners and losers; and asks how justly the shift to EVs in Germany unfolds. In addition to review of technical/policy documents and related academic literature, the thesis is based on historical analysis of the past transitions in the German automotive industry and on a detailed analysis of the current transition to EVs through semi-structured interviews with transport and automotive departments of international organisations, national (German) and international trade union organisations, industry lobby groups at the global, European, national and regional levels, as well as skilled and semi-skilled workers in Germany’s carmakers and large automotive suppliers. It constructs a five-parameter analysis to judge the shift to EVs in the German automotive industry. | en_US |
