What is START?
START provides tailored, short-term support to assist efforts to decarbonise energy production and usage, diversify economic activities, and progress social development in regions and communities that are heavily affected by the transition away from fossil fuels.
START can be used to help overcome shortcomings in local knowledge and capacities in areas such as: strategy development, governance, stakeholder consultation and engagement, community cohesion and resilience, and project identification and assessment. It is intended to fill gaps and complement other technical assistance and capacity-building instruments.
What can START provide?
START provides targeted support to assist coal+ regions, sub-regions, and local communities in achieving a just transition away from fossil fuel-based activities. Support typically spans 50-100 “person days” delivered over 6-10 months.
START aims to be a demand-led service tailored to the needs of recipients. It has been used to build capacity to develop a comprehensive transition strategy and pipeline of projects and develop effective transition governance structures and mechanisms. It has also provided advice and support on specific topics such as skills and employment, renewable energy, repurposing of brownfield sites, social development and inward investment. By way of illustration, START can provide support in areas such as (non-exhaustive list):
- analysis of regional challenges, opportunities, and priorities
- identification and dissemination of good-practice and lessons from comparator regions that are undergoing or have undergone similar transitions
- stakeholder consultations leading to a strong degree of involvement and ownership
- capacity and governance development for regional / local transition actors and partners
- formulation / enhancement of strategies for a just transition and economic diversification
- identification and prioritisation of transition projects and creation of a project pipeline
- development of initial project fiches and related action plans (roadmaps)
- identification of financing opportunities for the pipeline of transition projects
- communications support to engage and inform stakeholders on the local energy transition process.
Supported regions
Click through the fields below to access outputs and additional information about START support, which may help guide your own regions’ transition.
START provided support to the Government of the Principality of Asturias (Directorate-General of Energy, Mining and after-coal Development) and the Regional Energy Agency (FAEN) for the development of a regional energy transition strategy and for the identification and prioritisation of transition-related projects.
Documents and outcomes
START provided support to the Jiu Valley Partnership for Just Transition (representing the six territorial units of the Jiu Valley) for the identification, design, and development of priority transition projects, alongside assessing the accompanying governance and capacity development requirements for promotion and implementation of transition projects.
Documents and outcomes
- Iddawnlowdjaromână
START provided support to the Government of Karlovy Vary Region (Karlovarský kraj) and the Association for the development of the Microregion Sokolov – East. The support focussed on the following main thematic areas: employment opportunities and future skills needs; renewable energy supply and energy efficiency prospects; and viable approaches to sub-regional economic development and employment creation.
Documents and outcomes
START provided support to the Marshal Office of Małopolska Region and to various promoters of local transition projects to help develop demonstration transition projects in mining municipalities.
Documents and outcomes
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
START provided support to the Just Transition Plan Technical Secretariat to assess opportunities to build on local assets to create a new economy in Megalopolis. Support focussed on: employment and skills; micro-entrepreneurship and start-ups; investment attraction and technology transfer; and governance and capacity-building.
Documents and outcomes
START provided support to the Midlands Regional Transition Team for the identification of transition projects and the planning and coordination of transition-related activities. The support focussed on: community consultation; transition project identification and assessment; employment opportunities and skills needs; and transition planning and monitoring.
Documents and outcomes
START provided support to the Marshal Office of Silesia Voivodeship for the development of a method (framework) for the identification, assessment, and prioritisation of options for the rehabilitation and repurposing of mining and other brownfield sites.
Documents and outcomes
- Iddawnlowdjapolski
These recipients of START support represent a diverse cross-section of regions and communities. They differ across features including resource type (hard coal, lignite, peat), socio-economic structure, industrial characteristics (mono-industrial and diversified) and geographic attributes (rural, urban, endowment of natural resources and assets). They are also at different stages of their transition processes. Such regional variety contributes to rich exchange of transition lessons.
To ensure coordinated and integrated support to the selected START regions, the Secretariat works closely with relevant European Commission partners, including the Directorates-General for Energy, Regional and Urban Policy and Structural Reform Support, as well as other providers of support, such as the World Bank.
Recipients of START technical assistance in 2023
Following an open call for coal, peat, lignite and oil shale regions (‘coal+ regions’), which closed in December 2022, seven regions have been selected to receive technical assistance from the Initiative for Coal Regions in Transition’s START programme.
The seven selected regions are:
- Lower Silesia, Poland
- Midlands, Ireland
- Northern Hungary, Hungary
- Sardinia, Italy
- Silesia, Poland
- Stara Zagora, Bulgaria
- Wielkopolska, Poland
Applications are currently closed to receive START technical assistance
The second call for applications to receive technical assistance to support just transition-related activities in coal, peat, and oil shale regions closed in December 2022. It is anticipated that a third call for applications will be launched at the end of 2023.
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Application process
Typical applicants are public administrations or civil society organisations. We particularly welcome applications from smaller regional actors, such as municipalities, groupings of municipalities, and civil society organisations that actively contribute to transition processes at regional, local, or community levels. This does not, however, preclude cooperation with national-level authorities or inclusion of other relevant regional and local actors as potential recipients of START support.
The application form and guidelines will be accessible on this webpage when a new application is opened. It is anticipated that this will be at the end of 2023.
Applications are evaluated by a panel of representatives of the European Commission and the Secretariat, under the leadership of the Directorate-General for Energy (DG ENER). The final selection of applications to receive support and indicative allocation of resources to each applicant is made by European Commission Services.
The Secretariat will contact successful applicants to co-design a programme of technical assistance and capacity-building activities that is needs-based, demand-driven, and accompanied by a targeted workplan.