Supporting the transition of coal regions in BiH

The overarching goal of the project is to support BiH and their just transition to a decarbonised sustainable future, with low air pollution and improved environment, that is coherent with other development priorities. Through this work, the project is supporting stakeholders in identifying and implementing pathways that limit emissions through decarbonisation and other strategies, by filling key knowledge gaps, enhancing capacities to develop quantitative analyses, and engaging with policy and decision making. This effort is designed to lead to the uptake of new technologies, behaviours, management approaches, and planning systems, as well as to the design and implementation of ambitious, yet feasible, policies, actions, and measures at different jurisdiction levels.

The project is focusing on Municipality of Breza, Municipality of Banovići, Municipality of Ugljevik and City of Živinice in BiH as pilot areas. In the future, this will hopefully be an inspiration and experience to learn from for the other coal regions in BiH.

In supporting the transition of coal regions in BiH, the project team is working in the following work areas:

Defining Sustainable Transition Pathways. This work area is supporting LSGUs to develop comprehensive and participatory Transition Plans to guide long-term transformation towards more sustainable society. Priorities of the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans will serve as the broad framework for the analysis, while the unique priorities for every partner LSGU will be taken into account. The areas will also be analyzed through the social, financial, and governance implications of the transition, taking into account the wider landscape of megatrends, technologies and cultural norms, and behavioral practices.

Enabling Transitional Processes. By providing technical assistance for the development of transition policies and projects (project preparation documents/project fiches) BiH SuTra is supporting the LSGUs with the transition process. It will also involve actors with high potential to contribute positively to transitions, practices to capacity-building of transformative actors, and support innovation and deployment of sustainable solutions.

Support to Learning and Knowledge Exchange. This work area is supporting LSGUs in networking and exchanging experience within BiH and with Swedish, EU and other international partners.