Governance and Social Impact of Coal Regions under Transition

Introduction

The European Union is faced with enormous energy challenges regarding climate change, energy security, public acceptance, competitiveness, and energy poverty. Transitions towards low-carbon energy systems and net-zero economies have started to be comprehensive and demanding, requiring substantial public support, new business models, and new governance practices.

Challenges in Coal Regions

Coal regions are the ones where the Energy Transition is strongly linked to risks and potentially negative economic impacts for municipalities and regions, for companies, and individual workers. To make the energy transition work in the light of a Just Transition Process, it follows the guiding principle of “leaving no one behind.”

SITRANS Project Objectives

The SITRANS project is addressing two main needs:

1. Assessing the economic and social impact of the energy transition at the regional and intra-regional level.
2. Developing an effective model of governance for just transition that incorporates a place-based approach.

Evaluating Transformational Policies

Given that just transition plans include a number of important transformational policies and plans, the crucial question that arises is whether regional and central policymakers have the tools to evaluate these transformational policies and transformative projects.

Energy Observatory

In this regard, SITRANS is setting up a fully functioning Energy Observatory, the Just Energy Transition Observatory. This initiative is necessary to design, host, and monitor evaluation models based on predefined indicators and criteria that will be jointly defined in the context of public consultation.

Ensuring Objectivity and Legitimacy

This will ensure, on the one hand, objectivity based on commonly agreed indicators and objectives, and on the other hand, the legitimacy and acceptance of both strategic policies and specific investment plans.