Green Tank’s Nikos Mantzaris participated in the pan-European conference of Client Earth, an organization of environmental lawyers, on November 9th.
In particular, in the session on Just Transition he presented a brief history of the transition in Greece with emphasis on the role of mayors and NGOs in the progress that has been made during the last 5 years. He also analyzed the basic lessons (positive and negative) learnt from the course of the transition in Greece so far; explained the biggest challenges that Greece’s lignite regions are facing and made several recommendations on how to address them. The session was attended by approximately 200 people.
Alexandru Mustata, coordinator of the NGO Bankwatch for Just Transition issues, also participated in the same panel, and spoke about the European dimension of the transition with an emphasis on the situation in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Marta Anczewska from WWF Poland, who focused on the challenges of transition in Poland and the cooperation with the mayors in the framework of the pan-European Forum of Just Transition Mayors that started from Kozani in September 2018.
The session was attended by approximately 200 people.
A number of issues were analyzed in the lively discussion that followed the presentations such as the role of fossil gas in the transition process, the importance of participation in the planning and implementation stages of the transition, as well as the adequacy of available financial tools for the materialization of a truly Just Transition in lignite and coal regions (Just Transition Fund, Cohesion Funds, national resources, etc)
You can watch all panel discussions of this summit here and Nikos Mantzaris’ presentation here:
