Just Transition Eastern and Southern Europe

The project has been completed. It developed strategies for transitioning regions in Bulgaria (Southwest Bulgaria) and Poland (Silesia) away from coal mining.
If the European Union is to fulfil its obligations from the Paris Agreement and take on the leadership role it aims to hold in global climate policy, it must phase out electricity generation from fossil fuels, especially coal. Comprehensive Just Transition strategies have been devised for individual regions to facilitate a fundamental paradigm shift of this nature. They aim to minimise the hardships for workers and their communities in coal-mining, coal-based power generation and associated industries. At local level, this is to be accomplished via active political and financial support, and the transition will require replacing the current industrial structure with sustainable economic activities.
The retired Ptolemais lignite plant and the Ptolemais open cast mine in Western Macedonia. Photo: Lea Vranicar, WWF Germany
Based on experience from Greece’s Western Macedonia region, the project developed comprehensive plans for socioeconomic structural change in the regions of Southwest Bulgaria and Silesia. These plans were also influenced by lessons learned from structural change in Germany’s coal regions, which were presented in a study compiled as part of the project.
The project officers put in place a broad-based dialogue process in the affected regions to promote public acceptance for the proposed measures. Local climate activists, trade unions, journalists and civil society organisations were invited to participate, as were relevant decision-makers at regional, national and EU levels. At the same time, the project hosted training courses and dialogue platforms for individual stakeholder groups, enabling them to better participate in this process.
The project also organised study trips for each of the three countries, in which representatives from the private sector, academia and activists met with the local administration to learn about the region’s specific challenges and its experience to date with the just transition. The project organised meetings with representatives from EU institutions, including EU Commissioner Frans Timmermanns. The meetings were used to advocate for the adoption of a Just Transition concept as an integral part of European climate policy.
Updated: August 2021
Countries: Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Poland
Project duration: 10/17 - 02/20
Funding: 659,418 €
Target groups: Cities, towns and municipalities, Civil Society, Journalists, Labor Unions, NGOs, Regional governments
Implementing organisation:
WWF Germany
Project Partners:
WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme, WWF Greece, WWF Poland
Website:
regionsbeyondcoal.eu/
Ms Juliette de Grandpré
Organisation: WWF Germany
Address:
Reinhardtstrasse 18
10117 Berlin
Germany
Email: juliette.degrandpre∂wwf.de
Tel: +49 30 311 777 213
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK). The EUKI call for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
European Climate Initiative (EUKI)
Potsdamer Platz 10
10785 Berlin – Germany
Tel.: +49 (0)30 338424 570
info∂euki.de