The 8th edition of the Just Transition Platform conference took place in Brussels. The Just Transition Platform assists stakeholders in using the support provided by the Just Transition Mechanism, including the Just Transition Fund. The Platform actively promotes the sharing of best practices among all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the Just Transition. Elisa Ferreira, Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms of the European Commission, also participated in the conference, giving a keynote speech and an opportunity for questions.
At the conference, Zsuzsa Piskóti-Kovács PhD, Head of the Coal Commission Secretariat, gave a presentation in the session “Communicating the Just Transition” and participated in the roundtable discussion following the presentation. During the presentation, she represented the Action Group 3 of the Horizontal Stakeholder Strategy Working Group of the Just Transition Platform as a member, where a communication toolkit has been developed over the past months with an international team. The communication toolkit will facilitate effective communication on the Just Transition in European carbon+ regions. Following the presentation, the Head of the Secretariat had the opportunity to present the work of the Coal Region Committee and the good practices in the field of awareness raising that the Catholic University of Eszterházy Károly is implementing in the framework of the LIFE project. The round table discussion was moderated by Mónika Hencsey, Director for Budget, Communication and General Affairs of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy.
Two operational working group meetings were also held in conjunction with the conference: the Horizontal Stakeholder Strategy and the Tele-Health Working Group. In the former, Balázs Hegyi, environmental expert of the Coal Region Committee Secretariat, represented the University.
In addition to the staff of the Secretariat of the Coal Region Committee, László Szarvas, Mayor of the municipality of Visonta, also participated in the conference: it was the first Platform Conference where the Mayor of the Northern Hungarian Coal Region participated.
The participation in the conference was financed by the LIFE IP North-HU-Trans project.
News sent by: Zsuzsa Piskóti-Kovács PhD
Photos by: Dariusz Stankiewicz and Zsuzsa Piskóti-Kovács PhD