Just Transition is a development model based on community-based policy created for a specific locality and designed to ensure fair earnings and decent living for all workers and communities, which will be affected by the transition to a low-carbon economy (elimination of production capacities, coal-mining enterprises, etc.). Taking into account the plans of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine to eliminate unprofitable coal mines, the problems of employment, the problems of retraining of dismissed workers and the question of the future of miner’s cities will surely arise.
The current experience of mine eliminating in Ukraine shows that it was carried out without an adequate program of social re-conversion of the territory, which not only led to negative social-economic but also to vast environmental consequences.
Ecoaction advocates establishing a constructive dialogue between public authorities, local governments and the local population of the mining regions to address social-economic challenges. This includes issues of coal mining re-conversion, investment attraction to support new types of economic activities that will replace industrial fossil fuels, issues of employment and retraining of dismissed workers, etc.
Within the framework of the campaign, together with public organizations Germanwatch (Berlin/Bonn, Germany) and Luhansk Regional Human Rights Center “Alternative” (Donbass/Kyiv, Ukraine) the project “New Energy – New Opportunities for Sustainable Development of Donbass” is being implemented, which supports the stakeholders of the region in developing recommendations and measures for the sustainable energy transition to RES and energy efficiency.