Dear friends of a Just Transition,
Dear friends of Cohesion Policy,
Welcome everyone to this Just Transition Platform Conference. It is always a pleasure for me to come and see how you are doing on the ground. This is the 10th edition of our conference, and it has been an amazing journey.
From our initial decision, 5 years ago, to table a proposal for the Just Transition Fund to support regions undergoing major economic and social transformation, to the moment where we are seeing change happening on the ground.
This is also a very special edition of the Just transition Platform for personal reasons, because it will be the last one I will host as Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms.
I have been with you from the very beginning of this journey.
And I have been inspired by your drive, your determination and your engagement.
When I visited just transition territories, I was struck by the diversity of experiences: coal mining regions, peat and shale oil dependent regions, steel and chemicals producing regions, and many others whose future is being transformed by the economic and technological forces that are shaping the green economy.
Yet in all that diversity, I found one common factor. Time and again, I was struck by community pride. A sense of engagement. And a vibrant civil society.
And our goal with the Just Transition Fund and the Just Transition Mechanism became very clear to me: to give all these communities a future, and a hope.
And this is what we are doing!
In visiting your regions, and looking around this room, I have seen projects which are rooted in a proud heritage and tradition.
And I have seen projects which look to a bright future.
Heritage projects such as museums of mining, cultural centres, and historical tourism that prevent these memories from fading away.
And forward-looking projects, such as supercomputers, and magnet factories, robotics training for kids, and robotics factories employing adults.
But also projects where existing industries are being revisited and adjusting fast to a new world and economic order where fossil fuels and high emissions have no place any more.
In places which were not just environmentally unsustainable, but also economically challenged, we are working with local communities to prepare a brighter future!
With a vibrant economy, and a healthy environment, so that the older can live healthier lives and the youngest are no longer pushed to leave.
But all this took hard work and requires commitment and persistence, but also courage and capacity.
We now have new instruments: the Just Transition Fund, the Public Sector Loan Facility, special access to InvestEU, and Territorial Just transition Plans for all just transition regions.
All had to be created and made to work. And this took time. But our joint effort is paying and you are overcoming initial implementation delays.
Project selection in the Just Transition Fund is catching up with the rest of Cohesion Policy, and the Public Sector Loan Facility is solidly established and with a fast growing pipeline of new applications.
The estimated figures from the Just Transition Fund are reason for optimism.
By the end of the programme period, we estimate 63 000 jobs created, nearly 2 000 new enterprises, and 8 000 hectares of rehabilitated land.
And, something that cannot be put into figures: we have a strong Just Transition community, capable and willing to exchange information and experiences, and to support each other.
When we set up the Just Transition Mechanism, one of our goals was to build such a community.
A community of partners. A community of practice. A community with a common objective, which learns, and works, together. This has been accomplished. Look around you today.
Together we can celebrate not just our work, but our community. We can be proud of our achievements. The identification of the places most affected by climate transition. The acceleration of coal phase-out. The ongoing transformation of carbon-intensive industries.
All this has been achieved because of the close partnership.
With all the key stakeholders: at EU, national, regional, and local level: public authorities, NGOs, trade unions, companies, universities and research centres.
But we cannot yet rest on our laurels.
There is still a lot of work to be done on the ground.
I encourage you to intensify your efforts, in project selection and implementation.
This is why we are making steady progress in expanding the support available to you through the Just Transition Platform.
I encourage all of you to make full use of all the strands of support now available. Because you are not alone in this journey. Around this room you have several examples of projects on the ground or about to take off. And today you will hear about numerous workstreams of assistance that are available for you at the EU-level: technical assistance, experts’ support, working groups, a knowledge database, and plenty of shared resources. So, let me conclude using the words of the Schuman declaration: “Europe will not be built all at once, but little by little, by concrete acts of solidarity”.
This is what we are doing. Little by little, brick by brick, building our European home together with these tangible projects of solidarity and economic transformation. This is why I am delighted to open the first ever Just Transition Project Exhibition.
These projects are the bricks of solidarity. These projects are transforming economies, and creating new opportunities, skills and jobs. These projects are building Europe one step at a time. I hope you all find them as inspiring as I do.
Thank you very much and keep on building a better future!
Source – EU Commission