According to the public opinion poll from Climate Reality Project, 45% of the Upper Silesia region residents believe that continued dialogue between the local population, NGOs and local governments is necessary to build a collaboration serving a community oriented towards environmental protections. Simultaneously, because of the climate change, Upper Silesia is facing an upcoming socio-economic transformation related to mining and energy produced from burning coal. The necessary changes will be the result of climate policies from the European Union and our commitment stemming from the Paris Accords.

We have addressed these issues by engaging residents from the Upper Silesia region in creating civic campaigns entitled “Silesia Without Coal.” We have organized 5 scientific seminars for the activists from the Upper Silesia region and members of the BoMiasto Association, Upper Silesia Association, and Silesian Climate Movement. We talked about the climate crisis, responsible economy, and energy transformation. The meetings became an opportunity to build an understanding, to exchange experiences and have a discussion on the regions problem. Selected participants convened local groups in three cities – Mysłowice, Bytom, and Katowice. Together, they have created “Silesia Without Coal” campaigns. After a successful project, the group form Mysłowice plans to formally register an association, and we have conducted a training with the group to help them accomplish that goal. Finally, we organized a conference summarizing the project, where we have invited journalists and writers focused on ecology, the environment, renewable energy, and the society and we have presented the “Silesia Without Coal” manifesto.

Initially, we have assumed the participation of 70 people active on behalf of the climate policy and just transformation. In the end, we have hosted 90 people. Additionally, we were able to direct two petitions to the local government of Mysłowice to conduct public hearings and comments on the plans to build the Brzezinka 3 coal mine. The third petition, addressed to the President of Katowice, is also concerned with public hearings and comments, but the signatures necessary to file the document continued flowing in after the conclusion of the project.