Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean: the last coal mine in the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen is now being closed. Workers are losing their jobs. Instead of coal, the focus is now on renewable energy to facilitate the transformation.
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00:00Svalbard, an archipelago above the Arctic Circle, this is where Mia Sletas, 24, lives
00:08in the Norwegian settlement of Longyearbyen.
00:11Today she has a normal working day, although the job itself isn't terribly ordinary.
00:17She works in a mine that has been producing coal in the permafrost for the past half century.
00:24Final preparations before going underground.
00:27It's more than seven kilometres to the immediate coal mining site.
00:32First by car, then by electric car, then on foot.
00:49Today Mia is reinforcing one of the tunnels, drilling holes in the ceiling and inserting
00:54iron rods to help distribute the pressure of the rock.
01:07Mine number seven is the last working Norwegian mine in the Svalbard archipelago.
01:12It will close permanently next summer.
01:15It's part of the authorities' plan to switch to alternative energy sources.
01:20When I started working in the mine, we were supposed to be doing it to 2045 around.
01:27And just a year later, we were told that we were closing.
01:32Right now I'm calm about it, I try not to think too much about it.
01:38All of the miners and maintenance staff will lose their jobs.
01:43The closure of mine seven was planned back in 2023, but due to the war in Ukraine and
01:48rising energy prices, the deadline was postponed until 2025.
01:54Every year the mine produces about 30,000 tonnes for heating the archipelago's capital
02:00Longyearbyen, and another 80,000 tonnes for the needs of the metallurgical and chemical
02:05industries in Europe, including Germany.
02:10Last fall, however, Longyearbyen abandoned coal and switched its only power plant to
02:15diesel, which was the plan.
02:18According to Longyearbyen mayor Terje Arnevik, this is the first stage of the energy transition.
02:24Due to the use of coal, about 75,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were being emitted into
02:30the atmosphere every year, and the city needed to find something more efficient.
02:35I know it sounds a bit weird because we go from fossil fuels to fossil fuels, but diesel
02:41is a good first step because it's more flexible.
02:46And we have invested in a new battery park to stabilize it, and that makes it also easier
02:51for us to phase in renewables like wind and sun.
02:56The green transition in Svalbard is handled by Måns Olle Sellevold, an employee of the
03:02state-owned company Større Norske.
03:05The company has been mining coal in Svalbard for a hundred years, and is now investing
03:11in green energy.
03:12Måns' projects are a solar panel park outside Longyearbyen at a place called Isford Radio,
03:19as well as solar panels in the settlement itself.
03:22The projects are now in the test phase.
03:25Polar night in winter changes to polar day in Svalbard in spring, so the solar panels
03:31are ideal for the energy transition, says Måns.
03:34So behind me here you see one of the six solar facilities we have built the last years in
03:41Longyearbyen.
03:42It's on the building called Polarcentre, it's a combined hotel and office building.
03:46So we have put solar panels on almost all of the roof, it's a curved roof, it's quite
03:51cool actually.
03:52In addition to wind and solar energy, the development of geothermal energy is also being
03:58discussed in Svalbard.
04:00Måns admits that he feels like a pioneer in the field of green energy here in Svalbard,
04:05above the Arctic Circle.
04:07Of course solar panels and wind turbines and batteries are quite normal and common in the
04:12rest of the world, but we don't know how they will work up here until we actually build
04:17them and test them in real life.
04:20But not everyone in Longyearbyen is happy with the environmental policy.
04:25While Oslo plans to make Svalbard green, Norway continues to export oil and gas, which is
04:31not helping in the fight against climate change.
04:34But there is also another problem.
04:36Svalbard has a special status, enshrined in a treaty from 1920.
04:42Along with Norway, Russia is also permitted to conduct economic activities here in the
04:47town of Barentsburg.
04:51The Russians, unlike Norwegians, plan to continue developing mines, although coal production
04:57will decline there as well.
04:59At the moment, Barentsburg has a plan – 120,000 tons per year.
05:04And by the end of 2032, coal mining in the archipelago should be reduced by 40,000 tons.
05:11But according to representatives of the Norwegian Energy Company, there are no discussions with
05:16Barentsburg regarding the development of renewable energy sources.
05:23The last Norwegian mine is closing a hundred years after the start of mining in the archipelago.
05:29For Måns, this is a chance to realize new green projects, and for Mia to move on, as
05:35there are many countries in the world still mining coal.
05:38I've been looking into going to Australia, Greenland, because I really like mining.
05:47So I would like to keep doing that.
05:50But I'm also open to be a mechanic again on the mainland.
05:54Either way, the closure of the mine and the introduction of new technologies on the island
06:00have kick-started a green transition on Svalbard, where many say climate change has been felt
06:05particularly strongly in recent years.
06:08However, there is still much to be done to make the green future happen.