COP27 side event: How to accelerate the just energy transition in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions?
TIPPING+ project, represented by Diana Mangalagiu, Jeremie Fosse, Joan David Tàbara and Takeshi Takama, participated at the on-line side event of COP27 that took place on 14th of November 2022.
The aim was to share and discuss the learnings from different EU-funded research and implementation projects (TIPPING+, CINTRAN, ENTRANCES, TRACER) on how to accelerate the just energy transitions in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions (CCIRs) towards greener and more inclusive societies.
The session kicked-off with Diana Mangalagiu (Global Climate Forum), moderator of the discussions, introducing the topic and the speakers to the audience. The presentations focused on addressing the transformations in Coal and Carbon Intensive Regions (CCIRs), structural changes, the complexity of the dynamics, the pace of the transformation, as well as the regional capacities to adapt and to cope with the transition. In particular:
Jeremie Fosse (eco-union) discussed the transitions, their barriers, drivers and opportunities in the context of ongoing climate and energy policies and geopolitical, environmental and governance tensions and triggered a debate with key stakeholders, researchers and policy-makers on how just and fast decarbonization of CCIRs can be promoted.
Moving on, Balbina Gluza-Czyczerska, (Just Transition Platform) emphasized the support of the European Commission towards the concept of a “Just Transition” for Coal and Carbon intensive regions. She pointed out, that the Russian invasion in Ukraine highlighted the need to accelerate the clean energy transition, while putting more pressure on affected regions and territories.
J. David Tàbara (Global Climate Forum) specified that achieving positive tipping points require transformative human capacities that lie in-between policy, science and citizen advocacy, in order to support fair and representative processes of knowledge integration and facilitation. Takeshi Takama (su-re.co) presented key findings of the Indonesian case indicating that the system should be more decentralised to accommodate all types of clean energies, and all social and economic activities need to be electricity based.
Lastly, Rita Mergner (TRACER project, WIP Renewable Energies) talked about the example of Lusatia, in Germany, a rural region with a structurally weak economy indicating that there are different competing priorities to consider. Lukas Hermwille (CINTRAN, Wuppertal Institut) mentioned the injustices that arise from change (as part of a transition process), injustices produced by the old system (injustices caused by oil extractions for example), and the injustices arising from what is being achieved in the new system.
The event concluded with a Q&A session with questions from the audience regarding the importance of stakeholder engagement in the success of the transitions to low carbon in the carbon intensive regions the four projects focused on.
Did you miss the session? The recordings are available here!
You can read the full report produced by eco-union here for more detailed information about the presentation!