EUKI Projects Support a Socially Just Transition in Polish Coal-Mining Regions

For people in coal regions, the term “climate action” is initially associated with sacrifice, job losses or decisions made far away in Warsaw or Brussels. In traditional mining regions, it is not enough to discuss emissions, targets, or technologies in the abstract; it is important to understand how the changes will affect people’s lives. Building trust with local communities in coal regions is essential to decarbonise the region. This trust can only be established if those affected by the change can recognise that nothing is being taken away from them. The emphasis should therefore be put on creating new and socially just prospects.

This is where the projects of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) come in. Rather than imposing ready-made solutions from outside, they supported residents in Polish coal-mining regions with an approach based on listening, participation and practical cooperation. The starting point was simple but crucial: those affected by structural change must be able to help shape it.

EUKI brought together stakeholders who had often previously worked alongside, or even against, one another, including local authorities, trade unions, civil society, academia, businesses, and political decision-makers. In the past spaces for dialogue were accompanied by a climate of mistrust. EUKI projects transformed abstract debates into concrete questions: What jobs could be created in the region? What skills do miners bring to the table? What investment is needed? How can local authorities, businesses, and citizens plan together?

An important step was to make fair structural change tangible within the regions themselves. In Silesia and Eastern Greater Poland, socio-economic analyses, workshops and study trips were organised. Local stakeholders were able to observe how other coal-mining regions in Europe are addressing similar issues. In particular, the German-Polish cooperation between Eastern Greater Poland and Lusatia demonstrated that structural change is not just a theoretical concept, but one that can successfully be put into practice. This was achieved through the involvement of local actors in the planning, negotiation and decision-making processes.

From Dialogue to Active Participation

The EUKI project ‘Just Transition Eastern and Southern Europe’ helped pave the way for this shift in perspective. In eight capacity-building workshops, over 240 participants from Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, and Poland coal-mining regions learnt more about concrete solutions. Four organised study trips contributed to the transfer of knowledge and best practices.
The exchange involved local authorities and trade unions, civil society and the business sector, journalists, as well as political decision-makers at national and European level. One immediate outcome was the ‘Forum of Mayors on Just Transition’. What began as a dialogue platform developed into a collective municipal voice. In the first project, 53 mayors signed the ‘Declaration of Mayors on Just Transition’.
The follow-up project, ‘Regions and Municipalities for a Just Transition’, consolidated the network; by the end of the project, 72 local authorities had signed the declaration. With the support of the European Climate Foundation, a permanent secretariat was also established. This provided towns and municipalities in coal-mining regions with a structure through which they could pool their experiences and represent their interests to national governments and EU institutions.
Subsequently, three studies carried out by the project identified which jobs are at risk because of the coal phase-out and where new employment opportunities could arise. The findings were presented at the EU Coal Regions in Transition Platform to more than 500 representatives from EU institutions, regions, businesses, trade unions and non-governmental organisations. As a result, the experiences from the regions reached not only the local debate but also European policy-making.

How Participation Transformed Political Planning

In Konin, an industrial town in eastern Greater Poland (Wielkopolska), what had been mere dialogue evolved into a formal participatory process. The EUKI project ‘Just Transition Lab’ brought together local authorities, miners, businesses, youth organisations, academia and civil society in the Konin Partnership Forum. Eight meetings addressed topics including the Territorial Plan for a Just Transition, renewable energy, district heating, energy communities, employment, culture and the participation of young people.
The project partners ‘Polish Green Network’ and ‘Green Future Institute’ worked with other civil society organisations in the regional working group on the Territorial Just Transition Plan. This process resulted in 143 proposed amendments; according to the project’s final report, the Regional Development Agency in Konin accepted 80 per cent of them. A further 28 recommendations were developed at the Konin Partnership Forum, a large proportion of which were also incorporated into the planning. The territorial plan for Eastern Greater Poland was approved by the European Commission in December 2022.
This successful process differed significantly from standard political procedures. Those involved were not merely informed or consulted; their proposals were taken into account and led to changes in an official planning document. The document helped determine access to European funding and, consequently, the region’s economic development. Participation evolved from a mere dialogue into a political instrument.

A Decommissioned Excavator Becomes a Symbol

In March 2022, a twelve-strong delegation from Eastern Greater Poland travelled to Lusatia in Germany. Miners, local councillors, the Chamber of Commerce and non-governmental organisations visited, amongst other places, the F60 visitor mine. There, two participants came up with the idea of developing a site for industrial heritage and tourism using decommissioned mining machinery. The idea lived on beyond the end of the project. The bucket-wheel excavator ‘Dolores’ was saved from scrapping in 2023. Today, it is open to the public in Eastern Greater Poland, serving as a reminder both of the region’s industrial past and of the search for a future beyond coal. The EUKI project facilitated the exchange from which the idea emerged and strengthened the networks that made its implementation possible. This is precisely how impact is being achieved: not as an individual measure, but as the next step taken by local actors themselves.

Turning Strategies Into Jobs

The ‘Cooperative Transition of Polish and Bulgarian Coal Regions’ project subsequently shifted the focus to job creation. Trade unions, local authorities, climate organisations, businesses and experts jointly developed a strategy for cooperative employment in Eastern Greater Poland. The approach was designed to prevent people from the coal and energy sectors from simply being managed or retrained without the creation of viable new jobs. Instead, former employees should be able to utilise their technical skills, their experience with heavy machinery and their regional networks within community-owned enterprises.

The strategy was incorporated into the ‘The Road to Employment After Coal’ programme, which received 200 million złoty from the Just Transition Fund. Following the project’s final report, two cooperatives comprising former miners and energy sector workers were established and funded through the programme. The first, SAT Industry, offers services including the decarbonisation of the regional energy infrastructure, renewable energy solutions, and the repair and modernisation of heavy machinery. Around a dozen people found employment in the newly established cooperatives.

The political framework has also been further developed. Recommendations from the project partner ‘Europe, a Patient’ on sustainable public procurement and on securing market opportunities for new cooperatives were incorporated into the paper ‘Reimagining Transition in Eastern Wielkopolska’, produced as part of the European Commission’s START support programme. In July 2024, the model was also presented at a special session of the Sub-Committee on Just Structural Change in the Polish Parliament. As a result, what began as a regional idea has become an approach that can also be discussed for other coal-mining regions.

A Chain Reaction of Impact

The demonstrable contribution of the EUKI projects to Poland’s structural change lies in a factor that is crucial to any transformation: they have brought stakeholders together, made knowledge accessible, organised participation, translated local proposals into official planning, and linked new models to European funding instruments.

This gave rise to a series of impact spanning several projects: a politically sensitive issue was brought out of the taboo zone. Individual stakeholders formed regional alliances. Experiences led to concrete recommendations and project ideas. Participation reshaped political planning. An employment strategy also led to the creation of the first cooperatives and new jobs.

The figures only tell part of this story: 80 per cent of 143 proposed amendments were adopted in Eastern Greater Poland; local stakeholders developed 31 project concepts; 72 local authorities signed up to the Forum of Mayors’ declaration; two co-operatives of former employees from the coal and energy sectors received funding from the Just Transition Fund. Behind these results lies a more fundamental shift: people and institutions that initially saw themselves as affected parties gained the knowledge, connections and capacity to help shape the transition themselves.

For Poland’s coal-mining regions, the transition remains difficult and fraught with conflict. However, experiences from Eastern Greater Poland and Silesia show that moving away from coal does not have to be portrayed solely as a story of loss. Where industrial expertise is taken seriously, local voices are included and new jobs are actively organised, the prospect of a positive future can emerge.

EUKI has helped to build this perspective step by step: through ongoing collaboration on the ground. This is where the impact lies – Climate action becomes a regional renewal process that people do not just endure, but actively contribute to with their knowledge, experience, and ideas.