2022-12-05 13:49 update: 2022-12-06, 11:43
Frans Timmermans. Photo PAP/Tomasz Wiktor
The European Commission has paved the way for EUR 3.85 billion to be invested in helping five of Poland's coal-mining regions deal with the challenges of becoming carbon neutral.
Speaking in the southern city of Chorzow, which lies in the heartlands of Poland's mining industry, Frans Timmermans, the EU's climate policy chief, said that the European Commission had approved all five of the Just Transition Plans for Poland.
The plans, which include a national one and a number of Territorial Just Transition Plans, outline the main socio-economic challenges regions face in their transition towards climate neutrality.
They must be submitted, and then approved by the European Commission if the regions want to get access to the Just Transition Fund.
Timmermans said that all of the plans were now in the hands of local and regional governments and that the EC would work together with them. The strategies would address the specific needs of the local communities, as well as large, small and medium-sized enterprises.
Timmermans added that in this age of carbon transition, no one could be cast aside, as everyone must achieve success in this field.
He was looking forward to working with provincial assembly leaders and the mayors of cities to help them achieve their plans, continued Timmermans. (PAP)
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