The article deals with the problem of structural transformation of the economy of the Kemerovo region – Kuzbass in the context of adaptation of this coal mining area to new conditions. The export-oriented coal industry as the core of the Kuzbass economy has recently become a challenge to sustainable development region. The reason is, first of all, the change in the priorities of state energy policies in many countries of the world: now the goals of decarbonization and statements about the rejection of fossil fuels for environmental reasons are paradoxically combined with the need for states to solve the tasks of ensuring their own energy security against the background of the deglobalization of the world economy. All this creates uncertainty about the future of coal and forces Kuzbass to look for new ways of development. But over the past twenty years, attempts to reduce dependence on the coal industry have not bring the desired result. The reason, according to the authors of the article, is, among other things, the region’s lack of a clear structural policy. To date, a whole range of challenges and threats has formed around and within Russia, which radically change the principles of development of Kuzbass in terms of openness to external markets for raw materials, capital, equipment and innovations, prospects for cooperation and creation of value chains, thereby creating prerequisites for destabilizing the economic systems of the Kemerovo region. The authors of the article consider three scenarios for the development of coal mining in Kuzbass and, in order to solve the above problems, they propose to focus on the use of two basic tools for the structural transformation of its economy: restructuring of coal industry and diversification with the predominant development of new economy sectors.