| Summary: | Energy transitions are occurring across the globe as natural gas and renewable energies increasingly compete with and displace coal-fired electricity, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to combat climate change becomes more urgent. As energy sources transition, so too does the entire energy system in which they operate. For the coal industry, the energy transition leads to significant structural changes to the communities that are losing coal-based employment. Through a comparative analysis of the energy policies of Germany and the United States using a transdisciplinary framework, this thesis identifies potential policy actions to overcome barriers to a just transition and improve outcomes for workers with durable legislative policy. Extensive literature review including policies, analysis, commentary, and publicly available data, is employed to contextualize the energy transition in Germany and Appalachia. Germany, with a long history of energy transition policies and similarities between its coal regions and that of Appalachia, provides a useful study of policy strategies. This thesis suggests that within the context of the United States, durable legislated policy, not executive action, is paramount to sending the stable policy signals required to encourage further development of policy actions to manage the energy transition.
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