Blog entry

You(th) have a say in shaping the EU’s just transition

Among the many inspiring speeches, Damjan Kozarov, a student from Greece, delivered a poignant reminder that the future of our planet rests in the hands of young people, calling for collective action to make sustainability more than just an idea – to make it a way of life, a legacy to pass on to future generations.

The young people’s powerful voices and impassioned pleas for green policies resonated deeply with all in attendance, including high-level representatives of the European Commission. They conveyed a strong sense of purpose and urgency, highlighting the importance of youth leadership in shaping a European future based on solidarity, inclusion, and sustainability.

The event also served as a fitting celebration and reflection on the achievements of the two-year EUTeens4Green journey. The initiative, spearheaded by the Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO), was conceived as a way of empowering young people to embrace the transition goal of the European Green Deal – a climate-neutral economy that’s fair, sustainable, and leaves no one behind.

A key aim of the initiative was to address the many challenges faced by Europe’s just transition regions, not least the dreaded ‘brain drain’ that so often plagues regions in transition. As they embark on significant transformations, these regions are required to reshape not only their economies, but also their social structures and identities. And this is where schemes like EUTeens4Green can make such a difference.

Green innovation blooms across the EU

The success of EUTeens4Green, an initiative that saw EUR 10 000 in direct funding going to each of the youth-led projects in the just transition regions, has exceeded all expectations. We’ve seen the planting of hundreds of trees, new blossoming gardens, the establishment of installations like escape rooms showing the consequences of climate change, workshops on sustainability, art exhibitions, cycling festivals, and much more.

The official EUTeens4Green booklet, which lists all of the projects implemented in the 19 EU Member States over the past two years, showcases the creativity and transformative impact these initiatives have had not only on young people but also on their local communities. On the island of Crete, for example, a group of young people installed a green rooftop on their university campus, enhancing the beauty of their environment while delivering social and economic impacts associated with the low-carbon transition. Their initiative has helped foster a broader understanding of the interconnectedness between ecological responsibility and community well-being.

In the Czech Republic, a group of young people from the town of Šluknov on the German border set up the Young Friendly Region project. By promoting the natural beauty of their local environment, they’ve proved that this excluded location is actually a place where young people can live fulfilling lives, realise their dreams, and transform the future development of their region.

In Romania, the Ride a Bike 4 Green Life project promotes the daily use of bicycles and the benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle. As a result, bicycle use has increased, and participants are now more aware of sustainable behaviours, envisioning a greener future and inspiring others in their community. The project’s success has led to plans for further cycling competitions and campaigns promoting other non-polluting forms of transport. These are just a few of the many inspiring projects that have been rolled out across the EU.

Empowering young people to flourish

One unique aspect of EUTeens4Green is that all of the grantees were given the freedom to come up with their own ideas and execute them from start to finish. On top of that, the streamlined selection process, tailored to suit different age groups, meant that none of the topics and methods were imposed ‘from on high’. On the contrary, participants were fully empowered to propose sustainable activities that made sense for the environments in which they live. In this way, EUTeens4Green is a great example of an initiative fully rooted in the local context, free from any political pressure from the Brussels bubble or national authorities.

It also demonstrates that empowered young people can positively affect their own lives and the lives of others. The already visible effects of EUTeens4Green show that entrusting young people with agency and the freedom to make their own decisions – as opposed to in a token way – nurtures their leadership skills, enables them to engage with diverse stakeholders in their communities, spark dialogue, and inspire others to take action.

Learning lessons for a more sustainable future

The impact of initiatives that provide both financial and administrative support for youth-led projects is undeniable. When allocating funds, the EU, along with national and regional authorities, should prioritise the needs of the younger generation and create tailored programmes that unlock their potential. This is especially true of the just transition regions, which have experienced a significant decline in the populations of their youngest and most talented citizens. For example, the traditional mining region of Jiu Valley in southwestern Transylvania in Romania has endured over two decades of poorly planned transitions, remaining in their home towns.

Thankfully, the Just Transition Mechanism has created an opportunity for Jiu Valley to reverse unsuccessful practices and create an attractive environment for its residents, including young people. Ten inspiring EUTeens4Green projects located in Romania, including Jiu Valley, have demonstrated that young people are determined to become actively involved in shaping the future of their regions, a sentiment echoed by Valentin Foger, a young participant from Spain, at the final conference: ‘We’re here, we’re unified, and we’re asking you to give us the tools to fight for our future!’

Sustaining the momentum of youth

Through their actions, these young EUTeens4Green ambassadors have ably demonstrated their creativity, problem-solving skills, and commitment to addressing the most pressing environmental and social challenges within their regions. That’s why building on the momentum established by initiatives like EUTeens4Green is so important. The EU must coordinate efforts to ensure that all of these ambitious people receive the necessary tools and support to implement their projects, ultimately making Europe greener, more inclusive, and more attractive to young people.

To ensure decision makers heed the lessons learned from EUTeens4Green and effectively involve young people in policymaking, the initiative has published a report – Empowering youth in Cohesion Policy: Lessons from EUTeens4Green. The report provides policymakers with comprehensive policy recommendations, including creating dedicated channels for youth engagement through youth councils, regular consultations and follow-up mechanisms, providing funding for youth-led just transition projects, developing youth-focused indicators to gauge success within the cohesion policy, prioritising educational and training programmes, and raising awareness and building capacity among young people.

Planting seeds for a better tomorrow

As emphasised during the conference, young people should continue ‘planting seeds’ in local communities to put more pressure on European, national, and regional institutions to address climate change and drive the green transformation across the EU. Given the multitude of crises affecting the world today, coupled with the ongoing distrust in politics, initiatives like EUTeens4Green are now more crucial than ever. Encouraging the perspectives of young people is also particularly important in the context of the upcoming European elections, where young voters will have the opportunity to exercise their rights and shape the future of their countries.

Amid a growing climate mess, a dash for Black Sea fossil gas

It’s been eleven straight months of unprecedented global temperatures. Over the past few months alone, a record heatwave baked much of Asia and extreme heat scorched the Sahel – both events revealing clear climate fingerprints.

At the same time, plans for massive new offshore gas production in Romania and Bulgaria have been advancing unabated. If these plans materialise, they’re likely to derail the energy transition in both countries, undermining EU efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

In Bulgaria, OMV Petrom, the Romanian subsidiary of Austrian fossil energy giant OMV, is seeking to resume exploration at the Han Asparuh offshore gas field. The project could pump 13 billion cubic metres (bcm) of fossil gas a year between 2030 and 2040, and 8 bcm a year by 2050. But the company would first need to register a discovery before its license, first granted in 2012, expires at the end of the year.

Since TotalEnergies withdrew from the project earlier this year, following Repsol’s exit four years earlier, OMV Petrom is currently the project’s only stakeholder. As Bankwatch previously revealed, the Bulgarian government has been actively seeking to acquire its own stake, but thus far without success.

Meanwhile, eager to push the gas project forward, Bulgarian authorities appear to be cutting corners. According to a recent report, plans are underway to ‘unite exploration and production licenses under one agreement’ in a bid to shorten the period between exploration and production. There are also plans to reduce the time it takes to carry out and appeal environmental impact assessments.

At the adjacent Neptun Deep field, also located in Romanian waters, OMV Petrom, together with Romanian state-owned company Romgaz, could begin drilling for gas even earlier. Set to officially start production in 2027, the project would see 100 bcm of fossil gas extracted over the next two decades. This would make Romania the EU’s biggest fossil gas producer. At a time when the country – and the EU as a whole – need to slash fossil gas use, Romania’s transmission system operator expects domestic gas consumption to grow significantly.

According to Romania’s energy minister, an agreement reached by the Council of the European Union in March urging EU Member States to continue coordinated demand-reduction measures until April 2025 is ‘more of a recommendation’. He confirmed Bucharest is intent on increasing fossil gas consumption, and to ensure demand grows, the Romanian authorities are now busy building new gas infrastructure, from power plants to distribution systems.

Although OMV Petrom is still awaiting a crucial environmental permit from the relevant authorities to go ahead with Neptun Deep, which could be issued any day, the future of both the Romanian and Bulgarian fossil gas projects remains uncertain. In Bulgaria, where fossil gas consumption is currently 3 bcm a year, any new fossil gas production would require a substantial increase in either domestic gas consumption or exports.

Yet, there is little appetite in Europe for long-term gas import deals beyond 2035. In fact, if the EU fully implements REPowerEU, its strategy aimed at weaning Europe off Russian gas imports, overall gas demand should halve by 2030. Therefore, given the estimated EUR 4 billion investment in each project, both of these ventures pose not only major climate risks but also economic risks due to the likely insufficient demand for all the gas produced.

Environmental impact

In mid-May, the Bulgarian environment ministry held transboundary public consultations over the Neptun Deep project. Local community members, representatives of non-governmental organisations, and officials from both countries were invited to the coastal town of Kavarna to discuss the implications of the offshore gas project. Yet, the discussion was mostly dominated by OMV Petrom representatives, with little intervention from local authorities. Civil society members, including Bankwatch, raised concerns about the project’s climate impact, the use of toxic chemicals, and the risk of accidents. But these concerns were largely brushed off by OMV Petrom representatives, who claim Neptun Deep will have no significant transboundary impacts. For their part, the Bulgarian authorities also expressed their agreement with the proposed measures.

Yet, both Han Asparuh and Neptun Deep pose direct threats to EU climate action. The environmental impact assessment for Neptun Deep makes the ludicrous claim that fossil gas drilling would generate ‘negative emissions’. However, this claim is based on the assumption that the gas extracted would replace coal in energy production, and that Romania’s operating coal capacity is three times higher than it actually is.

In reality, Neptun Deep’s climate footprint over its projected 20-year lifespan, including its associated pipeline infrastructure, could reach a staggering 209 million to 227 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e), primarily from gas combustion. This equates to around 10 million tCO2e per year, surpassing Romania’s current annual coal industry emissions (8.6 metric tonnes in 2022, and decreasing). These findings, taken from a recent report commissioned by Greenpeace Romania, raise serious concerns about the validity of the predicted Neptun Deep figures.

For several years now, civil society have been sounding the alarm over the two projects, their climate price tag and the toll they would take on marine wildlife. In Romania, since the offshore law enabling the Neptun Deep investments was approved in 2022, environmental groups have sent open letters to the Romanian parliament, and warned on multiple occasions of the project.

In late March, Greenpeace activists staged a direct action outside OMV Petrom’s headquarters demanding the cancellation of Neptun Deep. A month earlier, Greenpeace filed a lawsuit against the companies behind Neptun Deep and the local environmental protection agency that had approved the project’s onshore infrastructure for failing to assess the full scale of its environmental ramifications.

And it’s not only activists and non-governmental organisations. Three years ago this month, the International Energy Agency warned that, if the world is to reach net zero emissions by mid-century, there can be no more new oil and fossil gas exploration and production. Failing to do so vastly increases the chances of a full-blown climate chaos. And in a recent report, the OECD concluded that Romania should not approve new oil and gas explorations, since falling gas demand in Europe after 2030 might pose a financial risk for new projects (see page 108). Yet, policymakers in Romania and Bulgaria, much like the profit-driven fossil fuel industry, are evidently looking the other way.

European greenlight

If realised, the Neptun Deep and Han Asparuh projects would cement both Romania’s and Bulgaria’s dependence on fossil fuels for far longer than the world can afford. While the Romanian government intends to use most of the Neptun Deep gas domestically, there are plans to export Black Sea fossil gas to neighbouring countries, most likely to Hungary and Austria. Under the pretext of energy security, gas exports could mean entrenching the dependence on dirty, expensive fossil gas throughout the region.

To make matters worse, Neptun Deep is being enabled by EU money. While the drilling itself might not be directly in receipt of EU funding, the supporting infrastructure – namely, the pipeline connecting the rig to the national grid, without which the project cannot function – has already received over EUR 230 million via the EU’s Modernisation Fund and the European Investment Bank.

EU leaders have repeatedly been speaking of the need for the world to end fossil fuel subsidies. This was also one of the EU’s priorities for the UN climate summit in Dubai in November 2023. A month earlier, however, the then Hungarian President Katalin Novak reiterated Budapest’s intentions to buy fossil gas from Neptun Deep and called on the EU to finance it.

Sinking public money into any fossil fuel project is effectively stabbing the European Green Deal in the back. EU politicians and institutions should not endorse either Neptun Deep or Han Asparuh. Instead, they should call these projects out for what they really are: climate wrecking balls.

For now, the important decisions are set to be taken at the national level. Both the Romanian and Bulgarian governments need to acknowledge that pumping more fossil gas runs completely counter to the public interest and to immediately withdraw support for these planet-heating follies. In tandem, decision makers must prioritise sustainable energy for their citizens by investing in electricity grids, renewables, and energy efficiency.

This year’s Green Agenda Action Plan update must be participatory

In October 2021, the Green Agenda Action Plan was endorsed by Western Balkan leaders at the EU – Western Balkans Summit in Slovenia. It should have been a turning point for the region, finally laying out a broad-ranging plan to achieve decarbonisation, a circular economy, depollution, sustainable agriculture and protection of nature and biodiversity.

But for civil society groups, it left a bitter taste. They had been asking for inclusion in the process for months in advance, but the draft Plan was shared with them just two weeks before the Summit, preventing any meaningful consultation.

This, among other factors, contributed to the Plan’s poor quality. It contains too many actions – 58, of which most should be broken down into more manageable steps. They are poorly defined and difficult to measure, with only indicative deadlines, and in some cases no real clarity on who is responsible.

The first implementation report, published in October 2023, implicitly confirms these weaknesses. It is not able to clearly state which points have been completed, how this is measured, whether the progress made has been the result of the Green Agenda or would have happened anyway, and who is responsible for further action on points where no progress has been made. As a result, it is currently impossible for civil society groups or the general public to understand where implementation is really at.

Fortunately, updates to the Action Plan were built in from the start – by the end of 2024 and by the end of 2027. This year’s update therefore presents an opportunity to make up for lost time and produce a Plan that is more streamlined and focused, sets clear responsibilities, steps and deadlines, and clearly sets out how progress will be measured.

In order to try to ensure a more participatory approach this time, this week 30 environmental groups wrote to the RCC and European Commission to ask for a multi-stage consultation process, first collecting pre-draft inputs on how the existing Action Plan should be changed, then consulting two successive drafts of the updated one.

This would help to ensure a better quality Action Plan and to restore the trust between the RCC and civil society organisations which has been eroded in the last few years. If the European Commission and RCC are serious about the Green Agenda and about promoting public participation in decision-making in the region, they must lead by example.

The stakes are high, and we have no time to lose. Civil society groups support the goals of the Green Agenda, but at the moment we have no idea what the next steps in the process are and what the timeline is. We can only be effective in contributing to implementation and ensuring public buy-in if we are informed and consulted on time.

RePower the Regions seminar empowers municipalities for a sustainable future

Organised by non-governmental organisation Green Liberty in partnership with the municipality, the educational seminar was also aimed at building momentum for a greener, more sustainable future.

As part of the event, local government and their staff were given a practical training on how to increase capacity and proactively incorporate renewable energy solutions, energy efficiency improvement measures, and zero-emission technologies into their construction plans.

Under the expert guidance of energy consulting company Ekodoma, participants learned how to apply a design-led approach to tackling the challenges of integrating renewable energy solutions – from brainstorming innovative ideas to prototyping solutions.

The training provided a great example of how to organise an energy efficiency initiative in a participatory, interdepartmental manner, using collective intelligence to come up with the most suitable and ambitious solutions.

The seminar was organised as part of the LIFE project ‘RePower the Regions: Ambitious and inclusive clean energy plans for repowering the just transition regions’.

Photos by Green Liberty.

Statement by Bankwatch’s Executive Director on the shrinking space for civil society in Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and other EBRD’s countries of operation

In recent years, Bankwatch has sounded the alarm about the deterioration of civil society space in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, in order to alert the international financial institutions that we monitor. Unfortunately, the situation is worsening with the recent adoption of the “foreign representatives” law in Kyrgyzstan and a similar “foreign influence” bill awaiting final approval by the Georgian parliament. In reaction to mass protests of Georgian society, the government is taking an increasingly repressive approach leading to harassment and intimidation of Bankwatch staff, our member group there and other Georgian civil society partners.

We appreciate the statements made by the President of the EBRD, Odile Renaud-Basso, expressing concerns about the situation in Georgia. However, if the situation continues to escalate, we expect the EBRD, together with other international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank Group, as well as bilateral agencies, to step up the pressure and put on hold any public sector financing that would benefit the government, as well as any financing of private companies linked to the ruling Georgian Dream party.

In Bankwatch’s experience, it is clear that civil society is crucial for reducing the risks of implementing investment projects, avoiding corruption, preventing the misuse of public finance and increasing benefits for the public. It is therefore in the development banks’ interest to ensure that civil society continues to play its essential role in contributing to the success and sustainability of investment projects.

Destroying while rebuilding: Flawed hydro project set for Polish just transition region needs a rethink

Eastern Wielkopolska, one of Poland’s just transition regions, urgently needs to repair the damage caused by decades of lignite mining. One controversial hydrological project slated for the region aims to flood open pits and stabilise water levels. But while these measures appear to be positive steps towards making amends, the environmental impacts of the project have not been assessed, which is likely to result in a number of unintended and damaging consequences.

There is a current acceptance that Poland is riding on the tail end of Europe’s just transition. However, Eastern Wielkopolska would beg to differ. What makes this region unique is that it has officially pledged to phase out coal by 2030 and to achieve climate neutrality by 2040. Both of these ambitious targets precede those of the entire EU region by a full 10 years.

In April 2022, Polish energy and mining company ZE PAK and state hydrological authority Wody Polskie announced a project aimed at increasing water retention and restoring water resources in post-mining areas in Eastern Wielkopolska. The project is co-funded by the Just Transition Fund under the 2021–2027 European Funds for Wielkopolska programme.

On the face of it, the project seems environmentally progressive. To address the damage caused by years of lignite mining, the project aims to flood open pits and improve the water regime in the region. Carrying out a hydrological project of this kind is undoubtedly essential for the area. It should also be implemented while respecting the principle of ‘do no significant harm’ and prioritising restoration measures for the Warta River Valley.

But the devil is in the details. Key environmental standards have been overlooked during the preparation of the project’s environmental implementation plan, which also omits a number of other significant details. This lack of oversight has been heavily criticised by local environmental organisations, culminating in a heated discussion at a recent meeting of the subcommittee for Eastern Wielkopolska, which advises institutions and monitors the spending of EU funds, some of which are earmarked for water improvement measures.

Organisations closely monitoring the project argue that no objections to the hydrological project would have been raised had it been primarily designed as a restoration programme. But ZE PAK and Wody Polskie take a different view. ZE PAK, a company that extracts and produces energy from lignite, is currently phasing out its open pits. Wody Polskie is a state-owned institution responsible for water management.

According to the president of ZE PAK S.A. Piotr Woźny, local environmental activists are delaying the decision-making process and blocking the distribution of PLN 120 million (EUR 27 million) from the Just Transition Fund by criticising the project and demanding changes.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth. Local activists do not intend to block the project, but rather to improve upon the more positive aspects of the plan. Unfortunately, the environmental impacts of the planned investments have not been subject to a rigorous enough assessment. There are also concerns about its potential negative impact on Natura 2000 sites and other nature conservation areas. But the biggest issue is the likely negative impact on the water balance of the Warta river.

The project threatens the ecosystems associated with the Warta River Valley and its tributaries, as well as the inhabitants of these areas.

A water crisis in the making

Although the project contains many elements that will improve the water situation in the region, it threatens the ecosystems associated with the Warta River Valley and its tributaries, as well as the inhabitants of these areas. Water intakes for many towns and cities, including Poznan, are linked to the Warta riverbed.

‘We’re most concerned about the idea of drawing water from the Warta for the purpose of flooding the closed opencast lignite mines. According to the plan prepared by Wody Polskie, water would be taken even when very little remains in the river – and at flows lower than the multi-year average, which are recorded over two-thirds of a year for the Konin area. Exacerbating the Warta’s water deficit threatens protected species and habitats. And it may also result in water shortages from waterworks using the river intakes,’ warns nature conservationist Jacek Engel of Greenmind Foundation.

ZE PAK itself has acknowledged that the process of raising groundwater levels (as well as the water table in the open pits) is proceeding faster than planned and could have been implemented without taking water from the Warta on such a massive scale.

Short-term thinking leads to long-term delays

The Frank Bold Foundation has called for the project should be subject to a comprehensive strategic environmental impact assessment. This procedure would allow for the cumulative impacts of the project on the environment in the Wielkopolska region to be assessed and understood.

Even though ZE PAK and Wody Polskie have not carried out a strategic assessment procedure, they have already started work on obtaining environmental permits for the 25 individual projects that make up the venture. But because they’re assessing investments on an individual basis, the cumulative impact of the proposed actions on the environment are difficult to determine.

‘If the project developers had carried out a strategic assessment at an early stage, the project would now be at a much more advanced phase. These shortcuts mean we’ll have to wait longer to improve water conditions in the region. This case should serve as a warning for similar projects being planned in other regions. Investments of this size, on top of being publicly funded, must meet the highest environmental standards. Otherwise, they will be pro-environmental in name only,’ says Adrian Chochoł, a lawyer from the Frank Bold Foundation.

Pouring EU money down the drain

Another problem, perhaps the most serious in terms of finance and the economy, may arise from this investment fever.

‘We appreciate that ZE PAK and Wody Polskie are committed to this just transition project for Eastern Wielkopolska – a transformation that takes into account social and environmental contexts. But a hydrological project designed in this way is likely to violate Polish and EU law. This will only worsen the state of the region’s waters and the quality of life of its inhabitants. Plus, we’ll never get back the money invested,’ says Krzysztof Pietruszewski, a Polish Green Network activist from the Wielkopolska region.

Members of the subcommittee for Eastern Wielkopolska warn that a project that raises so many legal and environmental issues is unlikely to be approved by the European Commission for reimbursement from the Just Transition Fund. The loss of PLN 120 million (EUR 27 million) would certainly benefit neither the region nor anyone involved in the project. Given its positive objectives, this project should not be stopped. However, it needs to be thoroughly reassessed to bring it in line with EU standards and legislation.

Above all, the promoters should design and implement a reliable and strategic environmental impact assessment of the activities planned within the scope of the project, and fully consider criteria applying to the ‘do no significant harm’ principle. Finally, all works that compromise the ability of the project to meet environmental objectives in relation to water bodies and protected areas under the EU Water Framework Directive should either be redesigned with expert input or abandoned.

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