transition resulted in more efficient
mines but left hundreds of thousands
of people out of work. “In the small
towns, if you close down a mine, you
will experience a quick social degra-
dation,” says Wystyrk, referring to the
1990s in Silesia.
That’s not to say the efforts there
haven’t started. Even before the ad-
vent of the Green Deal, local devel-
opment authorities had begun plan-
ning for an energy transition. Since at
least 2018, local leaders have engaged
in conferences and dialogues on the
topic, crafting plans to drive new in-
vestment and improve the quality of
life. A breakthrough came in Septem-
ber when Silesian coal-mining unions
endorsed the plan to end coal mining
by 2049. Still, many see that date as
too far in the future to align with the
E.U.’s target and argue that the region still needs a plan to end those
jobs within a reasonable time frame. Local trade unions remain skep-
tical that the disruption to jobs and livelihoods can be overcome with
a quicker transition. “Sometimes local authorities are even weaker
than the trade unions,” says Joanna Mackowiak-Pandera, who heads
Polish energy think tank Forum Energii.
So the European leadership in Brussels is pulling out all the stops
to convince this corner of the Continent that progress will not leave it
behind, economically. The European Economic Congress, an impor-
tant business summit, convened in Katowice in September, bringing
some of the biggest companies and the most important policymakers
to debate the future of Europe in the heart of Poland’s coal country.
Frans Timmermans, the E.U.’s Green Deal czar, made the importance
of the city to the bloc’s energy transition explicit in a speech. “We
will have to roll up our sleeves to make sure that this transition is
socially fair,” he said. “And there is no other region in Europe today
where Just Transition is more important than in Silesia.”West Virginia and silesia may be 4,500 miles apart, but
there’s a lot they could learn from each other. Just after President
Trump took office in 2017, I traveled to West Virginia, the heart of
U.S. coal country, to talk to locals about the future of the industry.
Virtually everyone I interviewed knew the industry was in trouble
and understood the reasons why. Yet they enthusiastically preferred
Trump, who promised that he would miraculously “make coal great
again” and restore the industry, over Hillary Clinton, who proposed
giving coal communities $30 billion to adapt to life without it.
It shouldn’t have been a surprise. West Virginia, a Democratic
stronghold as recently as the 1990s, has reliably voted red ever
since Al Gore promised bold action on climate change in his 2000
presidential run. Simply put, building support to end an entire
industry from the people who will be affected is a tall order—no
matter how many billions politicians say they’ll deliver. And it’s even
harder to do from a distant capital without boots on the ground.
That’s why what happens in Silesia—for better or worse—will
ripple around the world. Already, policymakers are watching closely.
A recent Columbia University report on Polish energy policy argued
that the discussions between Warsaw and Brussels could offer “con-
crete proof ” that vulnerable communities will cooperate with climate
measures under the right circumstances.
“It’s important to engage in good faith, and with patience and per-
severance, with parts of a population that are climate cautious,” says
report co-author Jonathan Elkind, who ran the U.S. Department of
Energy’s international-affairs department under President Obama.
“All around the globe there are places and people who are more am-
bitious, and [people who are] more cautious.”
Supporters of Just Transition measures say that they’re necessary
to make climate policy politically viable. They certainly can’t hurt
politically, but the truth is that industries reliant on fossil-fuel
extraction are bound to evolve and, eventually, fade—regardless
of whether local communities are on board. Working on a plan
now will simply ease the pain. Just ask the people watching the
transition on the ground in Poland. “We are deeply aware that
there’s no alternative,” says Sytek, director of the energy transition in
Wielkopolska. “We’re not tricking ourselves. Coal is not the future.”
—With reporting by AnnAbelle ChApmAn/WArsAW, and AnnA
purnA KAmbhAmpAty and JuliA ZorthiAn/neW yorK ‘IN THE SMALL
TOWNS, IF YOU
CLOSE DOWN A
MINE, YOU WILL
EXPERIENCE A
QUICK SOCIAL
DEGRADATION.’
—Marek Wystyrk,
former coal miner