Warsaw Institute for European and Economic studies together with WWF Poland have launched a report about energy transition in the Upper Silesia: “From restructuring to sustainable development. The case of Upper Silesia”. It is worth to mention that the publication was prepared in cooperation with the Marshal’s Office of the Silesia Voivodeship.
According to the report, just transition in Silesia is inevitable and primarily concerns economic, demographic and social challenges which correlate with reduction of hard coal mining, heavy industry and conventional energy in the region.
Thinking about the solution for Silesia not only the reconstruction of the regional economy sectoral structure should be taken into account but also a development of new, more productive and at the same time low-emission type of business activities within machinery, electronics and electrotechnical, chemical and pharmaceutical as well as automotive industries. Moreover, conditions for service sector growth, especially in its more advanced segments: engineering, IT, medical, and consulting services should be created.
Key actions to ensure sustainable development in the Upper Silesia in the XXI century are among others accepting the decline of mining and managing the change, a new approach to employees in the mining sector, ambitious programme for modernisation of fuel and energy infrastructure, comprehensive revitalisation, public transport, and diversification of industrial – scientific base. In order to finance aforementioned activities it is crucial to create a stable regulatory environment for private investments, country-wide mechanisms of public support for low-emission investments, dedicated support for mining regions from EU funds.
The report is available HERE
A movie about just transition in the Upper Silesia „We are from here! Success factors of Silesia transformation” available HERE
The movie and the report were made as part of the project Just Transition Eastern and Southern Europe. This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
