Mobilising finance for regional just transitions from coal

Join us for a webinar, hosted by the European Commission’s Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition at Climate Week NYC 2024, to discuss how to mobilise various sources of finance required to achieve just transitions away from coal. The webinar will convene policymakers and practitioners, researchers, and finance and civil society representatives to explore this important topic. 

A sufficient level of funding is a key component of enabling fossil-fuel dependent regions around the world to rapidly decarbonise and diversify their economies, in order to support sustainable regional development, and meet national and international climate targets. In recent years, billions of dollars have been committed to the coal transition globally, through multilateral agreements such as the Just Energy Transition Partnerships, but this level of finance has yet to be deployed at scale and remains far lower than estimates required to achieve a just and equitable transition.

Financing the transition away from coal must also comprise more than simply replacing coal capacity with that of renewable energy. Where possible, investments must consider justice dimensions – thus supporting human and social capacity development and effective just transition projects – to ensure a fair transition that improves the outcomes for vulnerable people and communities. This need is particularly acute in Global South countries, where long-standing inequalities and development needs persist. 

Ahead of COP29 in Azerbaijan, labelled as the “finance COP”, this webinar will feature policymakers and practitioners, researchers, finance and civil society representatives leading a critical conversation on:

• mobilising and directing private, development and other sources of finance to achieve regional just transitions from coal,
• examining existing case studies and innovations from both Global North and Global South countries to better understand the practicalities of financing transactions, tools and mechanisms. 

Moderator: Andrzej Błachowicz, Secretariat of the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition

Speakers:

• Julián Martínez Bejarano, Technical Advisor, Just Transition Institute, Spain
• Raphael Heffron, Professor of Energy Justice, Universite de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour
• Bernadette Victorio, Program Lead, Fair Finance Asia
• Jesse Burton, Researcher, University of Cape Town & Senior Associate, E3G 

The European Commission’s Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition (CRiT) was established in 2017 to assist EU coal, peat, lignite, and oil shale regions (“coal+ regions”) in their transition to a low-carbon economy, supporting them to deliver transition in a just and fair way. CRiT aids public administrations and other relevant stakeholders via knowledge products, technical assistance, events, and peer-to-peer exchange. CRiT conducts numerous international activities beyond the EU, that focus on strengthening partnerships with other initiatives and networks, and facilitating knowledge sharing for mutual learning.

To learn more and receive updates from the Initiative, you are welcome to subscribe to the newsletter.

For social media: #CoalRegionsEU

Related links

• EU coal regions in transition