They may be the first, but far from the last in Europe to lose their job because of the tougher climate policy.

Desperate employees have occupied the city hall of As Pontes in Galicia since December. Every Wednesday, they walk in silent protest outside the huge coal-fired power plant, whose four chimneys have stopped.

The extinguished coal-fired power plant is located in one of Spain's depopulation areas. No one knows where the new jobs are coming from. Coal power in Spain and Western Europe is rapidly losing competitiveness. This is because the EU has doubled the emission allowance prices. Last year, coal power declined by 20 percent in the EU. At the same time, solar and wind power have become much cheaper. Here too, EU policy is behind, as they have abandoned the trade tariffs on solar cells from China.

Proclaimed emergency

Spain's new socialist government began its first 100 days in power proclaiming planetary distress. They have laid out an ambitious roadmap for how Spain will live up to the Paris Declaration and come down to zero carbon dioxide emissions. Coal power should be gone by 2027 and they are well on their way, last year coal power in Spain decreased by 44 percent. They have also pledged a social support fund to facilitate the transition to the fossil-free economy. But no support money has been spent yet.

In the city hall of As Pontes sits a frustrated deputy mayor, who partly has to defend his party's green policies in Madrid and deal with a potential social and economic disaster. A quarter of the municipality's budget consists of tax revenue from the energy company Endesa. Now when they shut down, there will be a big hole in the municipality's budget.

- How can we finance the schools? The elderly care ?, says Ana Maria Pena.

- It's going too fast. I realize we have to stop using coal and oil, but we have to make time to change, she believes.

Boom for wind power

One final hope is that Endesa will continue to power the power plant with biofuels. But so far, the attempts have failed for technical reasons. Now it is rumored that the owners are planning to dismantle the power plant and earn a great deal on selling it in pieces.

Around As Pontes are fields of wind turbines. The boom in the wind power industry has created new jobs in the region, but requires other knowledge than the now unemployed coal power plant workers have.