Rumyana Grozeva (executive director) and Mihaela Dineva (expert in international projects) from Stara Zagora Regional Economic Development Agency, the lead partner of the DeCarb project participated in the 6th Working Group Meeting Coal regions in transition.
The platform on coal regions in transition activities includes two working groups which meet three times per year to discuss priority projects and best practices in coal regions; the ‘Post Coal Economy and Structural Transformation’ group covers projects focusing on the economic diversification of coal regions and the ‘Energy System Transformation and Clean Air’ group covers projects focusing on the improvement of air quality and technologies which are compatible with the long-term vision of the decarbonisation of the European economy.
Each of the meetings allows selected coal regions to present their transition strategies and priority projects for which feedback is provided by Commission experts and stakeholders of the platform.
A high-level dialogue on the future of coal regions takes place annually in addition to Working Group meetings.
Participants of the 6th Working Group meeting in Brussels learned about transition success stories from across the EU and be exposed to international perspectives on coal regions in transition.
The event also featured sessions on interregional dialogue, social dialogue, just transition projects, private sector investments, coal phase-out: alternatives and solutions, maximizing cohesion funds in coal regions, and coal plant repurposing.
