In the EU it has been accepted as the norm that the coal era is coming to an end. Only six countries are yet to commit to a coal phaseout before 2030, while some southeast European countries – Greece and Slovakia – have committed to doing so even much earlier. The challenge is to plan alternatives as soon as possible and do so in a manner that is representative of the interests of workers and communities from the coal regions. Against this backdrop, the Western Balkans and Ukraine Coal Regions in Transition Platform has been established, encompassing a broad variety of institutional involvement.
The Platform Initiative for the Western Balkans and Ukraine is the sister initiative of the Platform for Coal Regions in Transition, established for the EU countries in 2017 and aimed at supporting regions to move away from coal. The initiative for the platform derives from the Western Balkan countries’ commitment to a clean energy transition, expressed in the Podgorica Joint Statement of 21 February 2019, which was complemented by a commitment to decarbonisation in line with the EU Climate Law, as expressed in the Sofia Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans.
The CSOs endorsing this paper are drawing the Platform leadership’s attention to four key principles which, if well taken into account and reflected in the Platform’s working principles, would make the common work towards a just transition of the regions smooth, inclusive, and relevant.
Access and read the full Joint Position here: Joint Position: Four principles for a participatory just transition in Western Balkans and Ukraine
