The European Commission has adopted all five Polish Operational Programmes with Territorial Just Transition Plans (TJTPs). These TJTPs are worth more than 3.85 billion euros under the Just Transition Fund (JTF) to support a just climate transition in the coal regions of Silesia, Małopolska, Wielkopolska, Lower Silesia and Łódzkie.
Silesia has the largest hard coal mining in the EU and will gradually move away from coal extraction and coal combustion. This will also have an effect on part of Western Małopolska. These regions will therefore receive the majority of funding through the JTF in Poland. With a budget of around 2.4 billion euros for Silesia and Western Małopolska, this EU funding will assist the region’s inhabitants and support them during the transition to a green economy, with new job opportunities and cleaner air.
The Fund will specifically support local economic diversification by investing in small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) working on renewable energy, clean mobility and other green sectors.
To restore environmental damage from the mining activities, the JTF will also invest in the rehabilitation and decontamination of 2,800 hectares of post-mining areas in line with the polluter pays principle.
The JTF will also invest in the training of 100,000 workers many of whom currently work in the fossil fuels sector and equip them with new skills to work in renewable and climate-neutral industries: 27,000 new jobs are expected to be created in Silesia directly as a result of the just transition plan measures.
The Konin subregion of Wielkopolska will receive 415 million euros for its ambitious plan to transition away from its lignite mining industry and lignite power plants.
Thanks to the help of the EU, Konin will turn the page on lignite extraction. It will decontaminate and reconvert the degraded area to focus on renewable energy production, including the production of green hydrogen. EU grants will also support the development of a circular economy and invest in increasing energy efficiency through building insulation. Moreover, the Fund will support training and reskilling activities for 5,500 workers in the lignite industry.
In Lower Silesia, the Wałbrzyskie subregion will receive 581.5 million euros to phase out coal.
The Fund will invest in the diversification of the local economy with the creation of new SMEs and start-ups, especially in green sectors.
A more diversified economy will help create 1,000 new green jobs in carbon-neutral sectors and will invest in the local educational infrastructure. Investments will be made in renewable energies such as solar energy, the replacement of obsolete boilers and better insulation of buildings.
Next to coal mining, the Łódzkie region also hosts the biggest single emitter of CO2 in the EU, the lignite power plant in Bełchatów. Poland has committed to reduce substantially lignite extraction and combustion capacity in the region by 2030.
Thus, 369.5 million euros of EU funding will be invested in new business infrastructure for local SMEs and in research laboratories, as well as in energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment.
The Fund will further support workers currently employed in the Bełchatów power plant as well as in mining and related sectors. These workers will be trained with new skills to be ready for new green jobs.
Finally, the JTF will also support measures to decarbonise local transport by, for example, by investing in new electric buses.