A Road Map for a Managed Transition of Coal-Dependent Regions in Western Macedonia

As the global energy transition progresses, regions that produce and consume coal face unique and
complex challenges. They must plan and prepare for a transition away from coal in a transformation that will
last for years. Given these unique challenges, targeted assistance to coal regions is needed to ensure a more
just transition for workers and communities into a very different looking future. Such targeted assistance
begins with a road map, a strategy, that charts the pathway to be taken and markers along the horizon.
As this final report proposes, such planning requires thinking big and differently.

However, no matter the global nature of the challenge, successful transition solutions must begin locally
and look well beyond simply the question of energy. This was found to be true in the case of Western
Macedonia where for quite some time the region has been characterized by outflows, engaged in a vicious
cycle of disinvestment and population decline. Some of the reasons behind the region’s decline have a rela-
tionship to the predominance of the lignite- and energy-producing economy; while many other reasons reflect national drivers. In discussing with stake-holders, and in looking at the data, it emerged that in order to succeed at this energy transition, a contemporary and more dynamic vision of the region needs to be built; one that is thriving and forward-looking,underpinned with good jobs in economic sectors that are empirically shown to be promising. It is a story whose success will require inspiring and thoughtful leadership who can encourage a reinvention of the region itself. It is a story about bringing people along in a radical, structural transformation of the region’s economy and identity. As this report repeatedly signals, the region is an incredibly strong position to build off its natural, physical, and human capital; and these elements should be considered in their entirety right from the start.

Importantly, the people of the energy municipalities (as they are referred to) of Western Macedonia have
been thinking about a life after lignite for some time. In fact, when the World Bank started its engagement
here in February 2019, already several reports, strategies, and interest groups had coined the phrase ‘post-lignite era.’ As embryonic as these early writings may have appeared to outsiders, they signaled a growing social dialogue (and in more recent years a converging consensus) that a future beyond lignite needed to be imagined in this region of Greece. However, based on extensive interviews during the team’s work, it is fair to say that few anticipated that this ‘post-lignite era’ would in fact so rapidly arrive on Western Macedonia’s doorstep.

The Executive Summary that follows has been prepared for a wide readership to highlight the main findings of the work and their recommendations as presented in the Transition Road Map. The Executive Summary allows someone to grasp the essence of the work, without being encumbered by a presentaion of extensive technical detail on which these findings stand. Following the Executive Summary, the report is organized into three main sections followed by a conclusion. Section 1 is the introduction which provides details on the scope of work, the full methodology, the team composition, and the summary of the 11 standalone reports. From there, the reader can move to Section 2 which presents a consolidated analysis of the region’s constraints and opportunities for comprehensive transformation. Section 3 details the findings and recommendations, culminating in the Transition Road Map. The conclusion leaves the reader with an appreciation of the future of coal sector transition and the potentially inspiring role Western Macedonia, and Greece in general, could play in this global change

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