- Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, almost 70% of coal plants were to be closed in the EU by 2030. With Covid-19 existing stress in coal regions has aggravated. Closure of coal assets however will affect the jobs of more than half a million people in direct and indirect activities, and deeply touch the regions, requiring industrial transformation for example in the form of diversification. There are many successful examples of such transformation across the whole of the EU for coal and non-coal regions alike. On the back of rapidly falling costs for renewable energy and storage solutions – many of them ready-to-go – and the opportunities that the increasing demand for low-carbon value chains offer, the Next Generation EU recovery and Just Transition funds can be the additional crucial catalysts for this development. If successful, reward will be investment in new and future-proof technology investment, potentially including manufacturing opportunities that are now or in the future might be located outside Europe.
Link to the CEPS paper: “The time for rapid redevelopment of coal regions is now” (Greek version available here)
Agenda
- Welcome by Spyros Kouvelis, Director of EPLO Institute for Sustainable Development and Jorge Núñez Ferrer, Senior Research Fellow, CEPS, Moderator.
- Gerassimos Thomas, Deputy Minister of Environment & Energy, in charge of Energy and Natural Resources, Greece
- Marc Lemaître, Director-General, Regional and Urban policy, European Commission
- Andrzej Zabiegliński, Head of the Jastrzębsko-Żorska Subzone of the Katowice Special Economic Zone, Poland
Q&A and debate
The event will be hosted via Zoom. Open to all public. Please register on this page to participate.
The zoom link + password will be shared with you nearer to the event.
Jointly organised by CEPS and EPLO Institute for Sustainable Development, Greece
