Editor’s note: A version of this article originally appeared on the Natural Resource Governance Institute blog, and is republished here with permission. Since worldwide coronavirus-related lockdowns began in early February, the global demand for oil has evaporated. This huge drop in demand, coupled with an already overinflated supply, has depressed oil prices to historic lows. There has been justifiable attention on how to use this moment to help bolster low-carbon transitions. However, it is also important to address the negative impacts of this much-needed low-carbon transition on the livelihoods of the world’s millions of oil workers and their communities. “In 2016, when the oil prices were low, it badly impacted the oil industry workers,” says Jorge Gómez Lara, who works at Pemex, the Mexican state oil company. “Thousands of contractor workers were laid off, and oil-dependent towns like Ciudad del Carmen in Mexico witnessed massive unemployment, resulting in rising crime rates. This is happening again in the current oil crash.” Oil-exporting emerging economies such as Mexico, Kuwait, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have all been severely impacted, facing revenue losses and record layoffs due to production cuts. Signs of trouble are emerging from the Middle East to the Americas. For example, in the last few months, regional news reports have told stories of oil industry workers losing jobs, facing salary cuts or experiencing delays in payment of wages. Recent reports highlight the impact current and future job losses will have on millions of people worldwide, particularly those in the exploration and production segment, which forms the bulk of oil industry jobs in oil-exporting emerging economies. This could have grave repercussions for workers and their families due to the lack of social security measures such as unemployment insurance in many of these countries. Social breakdown may well follow. In the Global North, experts have been vocal about the need for governments to implement “just transition” plans for oil workers — plans that would help such workers move away from fossil-fuel industries to other industries, including those that support a low-carbon future instead. However, this has gone largely undiscussed … Continue reading Opinion: Governments must support a just transition for oil workers and their communities