Changing labour dynamics in the decarbonisation process in Mozambique’s coal frontier

Scholars argue that the rise of neoliberal mining and outsourcing has created a more fragmented working class and precarious working environment for mineworkers in the global South. Less examined is how climate change and the decarbonisation process have further restructured the labour dynamics. In the late 2000s, with the surge in global commodity prices, Tete province in Mozambique emerged as a coal frontier. However, long-established multinational mining companies gradually divested from their coal ventures, partly responding to international calls for decarbonisation. Since then, Indian companies have entered the frontier. The shifts in ownership have restructured the projects and their labour dynamics in Tete. Drawing on ethnographic research, this article argues that Indian investors have further fragmented the existing class relations and worsened already precarious labour conditions in Tete. As the coal economy persists, the authors expect to see more variations in the nexus between shifting investors and changing labour dynamics across coal-producing countries.