Opening session: Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition

This session opens the Coal Regions in Transition track of the whole week. After the opening remarks of MEP Jerzy Buzek (TBC), we will provide a brief update on parallel project running and that are of interest for the Initiative’s community, namely the Coal Academy and the Erasmus for Coal Regions. In the second part, we will invite national and regional governments to present some of the recent updates in their specific coal phase out path and to answer to questions from the audience. Hungary, Slovenia, Spain and Wielkopolska are potentially featured in this session.

10:00 – 10:30 Welcome and introductory remarks 

• Paula Pinho, Director, Directorate-General for Energy – Chair 

• Jerzy Buzek, Member of the European Parliament 

10:30 – 11:30 Scene setting presentation

• Felicia Aminoff, Energy Transition Analyst, Bloomberg NEF

Updates from Member States and Regions on the coal phase out process

• Blaž Košorok, State Secretary, Slovenia

• Barbara Botos, Deputy Secretary of State for Climate Policy, Ministry of Innovation and Technology, Hungary

• Laura Martín Murillo, Director, Just Transition Institute, Spain

• Maciej Sytek, President of the Board of Regional Development in Konin and Plenipotentiary of the Board of the Wielkopolska Region for the restructuring of Eastern Wielkopolska, Poland 

11:30 – 12:00 Interactive Q&A session