1.- GreenJOBS Project was presented by HUNOSA in the 65th International Trade Fair of Asturias that took place from August 6 to 21, 2022, in Gijón (Asturias, Spain) with more than 700,000 visitors, accredited through an audit commissioned by the Association of Spanish Fairs.
2.- GreenJOBS Project was introduced in X (former Twitter), a microblogging and social networking service on which users post and interact with messages known as “tweets”.
Access to the GreenJOBS Project on X
3.- Presentation at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) within the “31st Session of the Committee on Sustainable Energy” titled Business models to stimulate new economic activities and jobs in coal regions in transition (Geneva, Switzerland, 22 September 2022).
Programme of the 31st Session of the UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy
4.- Presentation at the 6th Just Transition Platform Conference – Coal Regions in Transition and Carbon-Intensive Regions on “Innovative clean energy technologies for coal regions” titled Geothermal projects as a method of developing post-mining areas (Brussels, Belgium, 24 October 2022).
Programme of the 6th Just Transition Platform Conference
5.- Presentation at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) session on “Coal industry in transition: state of affairs of coal mine closure in the selected UNECE member States” within the “12th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development”, titled Polish experience with mine closure – A Research Fund for Coal and Steel approach (Jaworze, Poland, 9 November 2022).
Programme of the 12th International Forum on Energy for Sustainable Development
6.- Presentation at the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers within the International Mining Lecture Series, titled A Green Energy Transition: Leveraging Competitive Advantages of Coal Mines (24 November 2022).
See the video of the presentation
7.- GreenJOBS Project was presented in the RUDAR magazine, the “Premogovnik Velenje, d. o. o.” company group newspaper, printed in circa 2500 copies plus a web version. It is available to company workers, ex-workers, municipalities Velenje and Šoštanj, Šmartno ob Paki, and government institutions (Velenje, Slovenia, 2022).
Access the web version of the magazine
8.- Presentation at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) workshop on “Mine Closure in Albania and Serbia”, titled Analysis of selected aspects of underground coal mining in Albania and Serbia. How can the infrastructure/resources of the active mines in Serbia and the closed mines in Albania be better utilised? (Tirana, Albania, 9 December 2022).
9.- Presentation at the Euroheat & Power (EHP) panel debate on Large heat pumps in District Heating: A winning team to Repower EU!, titled Heat pumps as a way to harness mine water heat (13 December 2022).
10.- First newsletter released (December 2022).
11.- Promotional video of the project (January 2023).
12.- Presentation at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) within the “18th session of the Group of Experts on Coal Mine Methane and Just Transition“, titled Task Force on Safe Operations and Closure of Coal Mines (Geneva, Switzerland, 21 March 2023).
13.- Presentation for the British Mining Trade Association (ABMEC) within the Visit to the Central Mining Institute (GIG) by members of the British ABMEC Association, titled POTENTIALS and GreenJOBS projects: green business models for end-of-life underground coal mines (Katowice, Poland, 29 March 2023).
14.- Presentation for the Fundación Comarcas Mineras (FUCOMI) within the Formation Programme by the HUNOSA Chair of the University of Oviedo, titled GreenJOBS projects: Aprovechar las ventajas competitivas de las minas de carbón subterráneas al final de su vida útil para maximizar la creación de empleos verdes y de calidad (Mieres, Spain, 25 April 2023).
Download a video of the presentation
15.- Presentation at the Workshop EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel transformational projects for a new era organized by EURACOAL in the European Parliament (Brussels, Belgium, 23 May 2023).
This workshop was kindly hosted by MEP Ondřej Knotek in the European Parliament. It was organised by EURACOAL to promote the EU Research Fund for Coal and Steel (RFCS).
Mr. Marc Lemaître, Director-General for Research and Innovation, addressed participants with a well-crafted video message.
The second part of the workshop was led by Prof. Alicja Krzemień, Chair of the EURACOAL Technical Research Committee and Head of the Laboratory for Risk Assessment and Industrial Safety at GIG. She presented two RFCS-funded projects concerned with a just transition: POTENTIALS and GreenJOBS which show how accompanying measures and research projects can support green business development models for the coal regions – especially in the energy sector.
16.- Presentation at the Final Workshop of the RECOVERY project, titled Synergies between different EU-funded projects (Libiąż, Poland, 2 June 2023).
17.- GreenJOBS premises of alternative scenarios were applied and served as a basis for evaluation in the report developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) titled Technical, principle-based guidelines for designing and implementing a programme for efficient, safe and environmentally conscious mine closure in Albania and Serbia (Geneva, Switzerland, 16 June 2022).
18.- Presentation of GreenJOBS at the 26th World Mining Congress, titled Repurposing of coal mines and coal-fired power plants in low-carbon energy transformation process, within the session Advances in best practice for closure and transition (Brisbane, Australia, 26-29 June 2023).
19.- Presentations at the 2nd International Day on Mining Projects and Post-Mining organized by the School of Mining, Energy and Materials Engineering of Oviedo (Spain) and the Official Mining Professional Association of North-western Spain (Oviedo, Spain, 30 June 2023).
Recovery of rare earths from coal waste heaps. Juan José Álvarez. Download the presentation
From POTENTIALS to GreenJOBS. Pedro Riesgo – Download the presentation
20.- Second newsletter released (July 2023).
21.- Presentation at the TGK1 & TGK2 – Joint Annual Meeting organised by the European Research Executive Agency (REA) (Brussels, Belgium, 12 September 2023).
22.- Presentation at the Green Mining Conference 2023 titled Minimising Coal Mining’s Impact on Biodiversity: Artificial Soils for Post-Mining Land Reclamation at the example of Poland and Slovenia (University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia, 28 September 2023).
23.- First paper of GreenJOBS in Energies titled Repurposing End-of-Life Coal Mines with Business Models Based on Renewable Energy and Circular Economy Technologies (November, 2023).
24.- Second paper of GreenJOBS in Mining Report Glückauf titled Wind Power for the Transition at Coal Mines – Prospects and Problems (December, 2023).
25.- A leaflet of GreenJOBS in Polish was delivered to better disseminate the project among Polish coal mining companies (December, 2023).
26.- Third newsletter released (December, 2023).
27.- Presentation at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Workshop Mapping Albania’s readiness for green and just transition in post-coal mining areas titled Just Transition Process in Poland – Status and Future Challenges (Tirana, Albania, 11 December 2023).
28.- A checklist was delivered by GreenJOBS Project in Microsoft Forms to facilitate European coal mining companies to collect the information needed for the Assessment of renewable energy potential in underground coal mines (January, 2024).
29.- Presentation at the GLOBAL METHANE FORUM 2024 at the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) within “The 19th Session of the UNECE Group of Experts on Coal Mine Methane and Just Transition”, titled Report on activities by the Task Force on Safe Operations and Closure of Coal Mines (Geneva, Switzerland, 18 March 2024).
30.- Poster presentation at the POST Mining time in NRW (NACHBergbauzeit 2023) at the TH Georg Agricola University titled GreenJOBS, Leveraging the competitive advantages of end-of-life underground coal mines to maximise the creation of green and quality jobs (Bochum, Germany, 31st March 2023).
31.- Presentation at the 105th Meeting of the World Mining Congress International Organizing Committee within the Seminar “Challenges and Perspectives of World Mining in Times of Uncertainty”, titled Business models to stimulate new economic activities in post-mining areas – GreenJOBS Project (Santiago de Chile, 15 April 2024).
32.- Presentation at the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2024 within the Session “Mining and Post-mining innovative solutions for mining waste, and risk assessment for sustainable development”, titled Repurposing former underground coal mines by deploying emerging renewable energy and circular economy technologies (Vienna, Austria, 18 April 2024).
33. High-level RFCS Event “European Coal in Transition: rising like a phoenix” organised by EURACOAL and the European Commission’s Research Executive Agency (REA) (Pozo Sotón, Oviedo, Spain, 8 May 2024).
Download the Agenda of the Event
The event was organised at the former Pozo Sotón coal mine near Oviedo in Asturias to promote the RFCS research programme calls and discuss future priorities. Several EURACOAL members attended, including the acting EURACOAL president, Ing. Vladimír Budinský, who delivered a keynote address with a clear message: the RFCS is a successful research fund that now assists transformation in the coal regions and lays the foundations for new energy systems of the future. Referring to the RFCS technical guidelines, he called for the scope of the research programme to be broadened to support a great variety of projects in line with “a climate-neutral and environmentally friendly transition”, especially the repurposing of former mines and other coal-related sites even if research activities do not directly involve coal, the “black gold”.
Mr Enrique Fernández, President of HUNOSA, who kindly hosted the event, spoke on the transformation of Spain’s largest coal mining company to an energy provider focused on renewable energy sources and the energy transition, providing economic activity and jobs in the areas it had mined in the past. He highlighted the already operating district heating networks using mine water combined with biomass boilers and announced the construction of a 2.8 MW PV park, the largest in Asturias.
Paul Webb, Head of Department B “Green Europe” and responsible for the RFCS research programme at REA, opened the workshop with a statement that drew parallels between the current energy transition and coal phase-outs in the EU and the mine closures in his native Britain during the 1980s. He warned of the social and economic consequences for the affected communities that can be avoided through well-targeted support.
Marc Lemaître, Director-General for Research at the European Commission DG RTD, delivered a video message EU Research and Just Transition describing coal as a good example of how the EU can and must manage the green transition in a fair and just way. He stated that the European Commission’s recent communication on a climate target for 2040 – a proposed 90% emission reduction – would mean the phase-out of unabated coal by 2040. On the 2021 updates to the RFCS legal basis, he spoke of the now better fit with EU climate and energy policy, including the new and much larger “big-ticket” calls. He promised the coal regions that the Commission “will be at your side to make the best use of the numerous supporting tools at hand”.
Prof. Alicja Krzemień, head of the laboratory for risk assessment and industrial safety at the GIG National Research Institute and Yago Somoano Rodríguez, head of the innovation department at HUNOSA, underlined the project’s potential for sector coupling and a just transition. They explained how the repurposing of a closed coal mine and its water management system for green hydrogen production would link to an existing geothermal plant.
The panel discussion was moderated by Dr Sebastiano Fumero, Head of Unit REA.B1 “Future Low Emission Industries” at the European Research Executive Agency. During the panel, María Lorenzo Conto, Director for energy and business development at HUNOSA, called for better connections between the different areas of energy transition: renewable energies, geothermal, and CO2 capture projects, with hydrogen acting as a bridge.
34. Presentation at the International Post-Mining Symposium titled Research Center of Post-Mining and Its Projects on Reactivation and Transition (Zonguldak, Turkey, 22-24 May 2024).
