Green Transition from fossil fuels
How to turn coal regions into competitive power houses of the low carbon industries
Date: 10 December 2023
Time: 10.30 – 11.15 h
Location: Bulgarian Pavilion at COP28
Annotation
In today’s time of great transitions, we need a mind and governance shift that seizes opportunities and uses the assets of coal regions to drive Europe’s net zero carbon strategy.
Turning lignite mining regions into solar and wind generation centres is only part of the potential these areas have. Their future could be that of zero-carbon industry hubs, thus building the European industry transition “super-labs”. To drive this process in the right direction, we should replace the burden and compensation paradigm with one defined by competitiveness and innovation. This way, coal regions will not only reduce their transition bill, but will become the main drivers and beneficiaries of the transition, contributing to Europe’s global industrial competitiveness, and strengthening European energy and political security.
We’ll engage in a talk about these opportunities with the Bulgarian Minister of Environment Julian Popov, big power and industrial producers from Bulgaria, and the European Digital Innovation Hub ZAGORE!
Speakers:
- Juan Ignacio Rubiolo, Executive Vice President and President of Global Infrastructure, the AES Corporation
- Rossen Papazov, Holcim Bulgaria
- Rumyana Grozeva, Regional Economic Development Agency of Stara Zagora, European Digital Innovation Hub ZAGORE
- Evgeni Angelov, Bulgarian VC & PE Association (tbc)
Moderator:
Julian Popov, Minister of Environment and Water
Host of the event:
Ministry of Environment and Water