De-Lignitization & Transition to the Post-Lignite Era: What do the citizens of Greece’s lignite regions think?

Nikos Mantzaris participated in the online event organized by diaNEOsis entitled “The Greek Green Deal” on Monday, November 30, 2020, presenting the results of a survey on the views of the citizens of Greece’s lignite regions about de-lignitization and the transition to the post-lignite era as well as relevant policy recommendations.

The corresponding questionnaire was developed by the Green Tank team in collaboration with Associate Professor of the University of Athens and member of the Green Tank’s Advisory Committee Emmanuela Doussis, diaNEOsis and the polling company MARC, and was answered by 802 citizens of the 3 regional units where lignite mining and burning takes place.

You can read the analysis of the research results here (in Greek).

Other participants of the online meeting, which was coordinated by Thodoris Georgakopoulos, content director of diANEOsis, included:

• Associate Professor of the University of Athens Emmanuela Doussis, who spoke about the concept of Just Transition, and presented best Just Transition practices from Europe,

• Associate Professor at the University of Piraeus & former Minister of Environment, Energy and Climate Change Giannis Maniatis, who presented the main conclusions of his study on Green Development,

• Professor of the University of Athens Costas Kartalis, who spoke about the effects of climate change in Greece.

During the online discussion, many questions posed by the audience were answered about whether the lignite phase out could have been avoided, the reality regarding the economics of lignite plants in Greece, the prospects of extending their life in combination with carbon capture and storage or utilization technologies (CCSU), as well as the validity or not of choosing fossil gas as a bridge fuel in the post-lignite era in Greece.

You can watch the whole online event here and the presentation of Nikos Mantzaris here:

You can also listen to Nikos Mantzaris’ interview with Galateia Karakatsani in the 9.84 radio station on the results of the public poll:

the analysis of the public poll results in the news of Star-Central Greece:

and in the news of AtticaTV (starting at 1:14:20)