On 13 July, the ІV International Coal Conference “Coal regions of Ukraine: just transition and coal mining. Ukrainian and international experience” took place in Kyiv. This year the conference was held in a hybrid format: both online and live. The conference engaged more than 200 international experts from Ukraine, Germany, Poland, Great Britain and the European Union, representatives of Ukrainian power authorities and of large businesses, leaders of coal mining trade unions and executives of Ukraine’s coal production regions who discussed the issues pertinent to the coal industry transition.

Experts from the coal industry, representatives of the Ukrainian Government and international community discussed the transformation that the coal industry envisages for coming years. The discussion embraced three thematic sessions: “Achieving carbon neutrality and leveraging opportunities for coal communities”, “Coal mining in the context of the green energy transition” and “Just transition for the coal regions. Possibilities for economic diversification of mono-towns”. 

The experts agreed that successful transition of Ukraine’s coal regions depends significantly on engagement of authorities, local communities, international partners and business community into this process. 

Mr. Denys Shmyhal, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, took part in the event. Head of the Government noted: by sharing the values of the European Green Deal, Ukraine makes a number of meaningful steps towards energy independence of its economy, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, gradual phase-out of fossil fuels and reduction of carbon intensity in various industry sectors. At the same time, it aims to envisage a social transition of mono-towns considering their dependence on operation of mines or thermal power plants. 

“We are actively discussing with the European Union, the World Bank and other partners the just transition of coal regions, following the example of the Europe’s Just Transition program. A complex just transition policy for coal regions is being elaborated on the country level. Our task is to implement the necessary incentives, to enable these regions to become the attractive places for investments and to design a comprehensive plan of creating new jobs, as well as to bring new opportunities for small and medium business development,” stressed the Prime Minister. 

Denys Shmyhal added: with support of the World Bank and the German Government, Ukraine will access best practices and technologies to enable the just transition of the coal regions.

“The success of transformation of the coal regions in our country directly depends on level of engagement of all stakeholders into this process: from local authorities to our international partners. Together we need to elaborate a universally applicable model for re-purposing and revitalizing the mining regions, which would create new opportunities for local population and investors,” summarized the Head of the Government.

Mr. Stanislaw Tillich, Special Envoy of the Government of Germany Government on structural changes for Ukrainian coal regions, noted: “In August last year, we signed the German-Ukrainian Energy Partnership with the Ukrainian Government to share the experience in transformation of coal industry in our country. This program will be established for 5 years and envisages EUR 35 million in financing. It is important that the decision to embark on the transition and to design it should be supported by the Ukrainian society overall. Because such decision concerns both coal miners and the necessary societal support for the decarbonisation. First of all we suggest to explore the potential and future prospects of mining regions development, to design a program to reskill workers in this industry, to identify the risks that could emerge during the transition and only after that to proceed with implementation of transition projects.”

According to Mr. Ildar Salieiev, CEO of DTEK Energy, the company has been supporting the communities where coal production enterprises operate in developing the road map of just transition process, for more than three years already. This road map will ensure the vitality of these regions after the coal production is closed. 

“DTEK fully shares the European values. With support of DTEK Energy, Dobropillia town became Ukraine’s first coal region that followed the path of economic diversification. The dedicated program has been elaborated; it covers three years and includes more than 40 projects aimed to creating new jobs in various sectors of economy: from construction to services rendering. Now, with support of DTEK Energy, another three coal communities in the Dnipropetrovsk region follow the same path of developing their just transition programs. I believe that under the new circumstances the sustainable development can be ensured by active engagement of the state, businesses and international partners,” noted Mr. Ildar Salieiev.