2024-03-01 07:14:25
Lack of snow in the mountains and summers with record temperatures and drought. Climate change is largely being addressed at the European level, but success will not come without support from below. In the Czech Republic, the coal regions face the biggest challenges, and European funds help them to overcome them. What exactly awaits these regions and how they manage to change, Zuzana Vondrová from the Center for Transport and Energy commented in the Aktuálně.cz podcast.
Photo: EU
“Most emissions are in the energy sector, i.e. the production of electricity and heat. And that is why it is most important to focus on this sector in terms of reducing emissions, which must change,” explains the project coordinator, who deals with the issue of fair transformation at the center.
It is the just transformation that should help the coal regions to prepare for changes in the energy sector as best as possible and as soon as possible. In the Czech Republic, this applies directly to the Moravian-Silesian, Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions.
For the transformation of structurally affected regions, the Czech Republic received more than 40 billion crowns under the Just Transformation Fund alone, which it can draw on until 2027. With the help of the fund, it finances projects in the regions that focus on the transition to renewable resources, digitization or business support.
However, Vondrová emphasizes that the Czech Republic lacks any long-term concept of where the regions should go and how they could solve the socio-economic problems they face with the help of these funds.
“We have to be able to distinguish whether the projects are really beneficial for the region, or whether we are talking about commercial plans that in the end will only benefit a narrow group of people. This is a criticism that comes from all possible sides,” adds Vondrová, who she is also a member of the monitoring committee, which is supposed to control the withdrawal of money.
Listen to the entire podcast on the SoundCloud platform, where Vondrová, among other things, describes specific Czech projects that, in her opinion, show the successful transformation of the region. But the Czech Republic can also take inspiration from abroad, the expert recalls, for example, Germany or Poland.