The 'Coal regions in transition initiative' was announced in November 2016 in the 'Clean Energy for all Europeans' package under the Energy Union. It is a dedicated initiative to provide tailor-made support for the clean energy transition in the coal and carbon-intensive industrial regions, which could entail a wider structural shift in the local economy. Following the high level meeting on 5 February 2018, mobilisation of the resources from various EU programmes needs to be launched. A JRC study was conducted in early 2018 (initial diagnostic of the Upper Nitra Region). In order to help the Slovak authorities with the transition process with the help of Structural Funds, DG REGIO asked an expert to provide a socio-economic analyses to improve the use of ESI funding and to identify key projects to be financed through ESIF OPs in the current programming period. The analysis will feed into the Commissions SRSS in-depth study carried out by PwC focusing on 3 main challenges: diversification of the economy out of coal and into new sectors of economy, replacement of coal-fired district heating with alternative systems and rehabilitation of the mining land.
