Just Transition Eastern and Southern Europe

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.

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.

• Strategies for phasing out coal: The project developed a Just-Transition-Roadmap for Poland and Bulgaria, as well as a report on experiences in Germany, which provided concrete strategies for phasing out coal and influenced national policies and the design of the EU Just Transition Fund. The participatory development process, which involved trade unions, local authorities, civil society, journalists, EU institutions, and governments, significantly increased its political impact and acceptance. 
• Strengthening local transition actors: During four study trips and eight capacity-building workshops, 239 local decision-makers, trade union representatives, civil society actors, and journalists expanded their knowledge of just transition and subsequently passed it on in their regions. This strengthened their ability to actively shape structural change in a fact-based manner.  
• Network increases political impact: The project gave rise to the Forum of Mayors on Just Transition, which produced the Declaration of Mayors on Just Transition. This was signed by 53 mayors and gave coal regions more support and a greater say at EU level. From 2020, the format was continued in the follow-up project “Regions and Municipalities for a Just Transition“.