The mentioned areas have in common that they were dominated by coal mining in the past. Other municipalities in the Moravian-Silesian, Ústí and Karlovy Vary regions are in a similar situation. For them, the move away from coal poses the risks of job losses and further outflow of talented people. This is precisely why money from the European Just Transition Fund, which is part of the so-called Green Deal for Europe, should flow into them.
“We need to align the starting line,” declared the Minister of the Environment Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL). According to him, the aim is to support projects that will maintain or even better increase the number of jobs in the mentioned regions, or take care of the development of business, culture or research.
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The state has already approved the first funds. So far, he has approved support in the amount of 13.9 billion crowns. So far, 1.1 billion have been paid out. A total of 39.4 billion is available in the program. So far, companies or institutions have applied for less than 31 billion.
Roughly a third of the money, less than 11 billion, goes to public sector projects, i.e. mainly regions and municipalities. Almost 10 billion was requested by the academic sector, a similar amount also falls to private enterprises. Non-profit organizations then want subsidies for half a billion.
Processing of applications is at various stages. There are 31 large, so-called strategic projects in all three regions. The Moravian-Silesian region is the furthest along with their approval, for which the state has already approved six projects. One for the Ústí Region, but there is no approved project in Karlovy Vary. The ministry wants to have all requests approved by the middle of this year.
“Strategic projects are often a complex of many activities. From hard investments to research and development,” Petr Valdman, director of the State Environment Fund, outlined the reason why things run at different paces. “At the turn of 2021 and 2022, we allocated funds for final project preparation. Those who took advantage of this opportunity are now the furthest away,” he added.
The Just Transformation Fund has so far secured funding until 2027. The Czech Republic is currently discussing what will happen next at the European level. During the debate at the Council of the EU, Hladík called on other environment ministers to support the continuation of the fund.
“I don’t want to shout it out, but I think we can push for the Just Transformation to become a standard program,” stated Hladík.
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Tags: billions heading coal regions fundamental transformation
