Join webinars on just energy transitions in Western Balkans and Ukraine

The upcoming webinar series ‘Just energy transitions in the Western Balkans and Ukraine’ will explore opportunities and the lessons learnt on the way to a coal phaseout.

The Initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine is gathering experts that are working on a just energy transition and the representatives of the affected communities. It announced a series of webinars starting next month, aiming to contribute to a just energy transition.

The idea is to present the coal regions’ viewpoint and analyze examples from the European Union and the Western Balkans and Ukraine themselves. The initiative was launched to help the countries and their coal regions move away from coal towards a carbon-neutral economy.

The affected population and firms require dedicated funding, know-how, a simpler administrative procedure and top-of-the-line green technologies

Shutting down mines and coal-fired facilities impacts jobs and livelihoods on the local as well as the national level, so securing a just and inclusive transition for the workers, their families and entire local communities is of paramount importance.

The population, firms and authorities require dedicated funding, know-how, a simpler administrative procedure and green technologies that can turn the economy around. A coal phaseout is successful only if it enables a sustainable future for them.

The initiative will deliver support to coal regions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Ukraine.

The audience can register here. All the online seminars will take place from 15:00 to 16:00 CET/CEST. They will cover the following topics:

• March 9: Planning for a just transition in light of energy (in)security
• March 30: Engaging stakeholders in just transition planning: who and how?
• April 27: Energy transition and air quality: solutions and good practices
• May 25: Opportunities to finance energy transitions
• June 14: Regions seizing coal phase-out as an opportunity for economic development
• July 6: Lessons learnt when switching from coal to renewables

The participants in the first event will examine how the security of supply and energy transitions are intertwined, and which options for achieving the security of supply in the medium and long term are the most pragmatic. They will also look into how coal regions can manage their own transitions and discuss the approaches that would ensure the transitions are just and that they maximise benefits for regional socio-economic development.

Mirza Kušljugić from RESET and Rumyana Grozeva from SZ REDA are the speakers in the first webinar

Katharina Hartmann from the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER) will deliver the opening words at the ‘Planning for a just transition in light of energy (in)security’ webinar. She is tracking consumers and local initiatives within the directorate-general’s just transition unit.

The speakers are Mirza Kušljugić, PhD, President of the RESET Center for Sustainable Energy Transition in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Rumyana Grozeva, PhD, Executive Director of SZ REDA, Regional Economic Development Agency of Stara Zagora in Bulgaria.

Six webinars will be streamed from March to July

The moderator of the first webinar will be Selma Šehović, Project Manager for climate change and just energy transition in FES SOE.

The Initiative for coal regions in transition in the Western Balkans and Ukraine is led by the European Commission and six collaborating international partners: the World Bank, the Energy Community Secretariat, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, Poland’s National Fund for Environment Protection and Water Management, and the College of Europe in Natolin.