According to the poll from the Climate Reality Project, 45% of the people of the Upper Silesia believe that a continued dialog between the people, specialists, NGOs, and the local government is necessary to achieve sustainable collaboration when working towards the green community. Simultaneously, due to the climate change, the Upper Silesia is facing a socio-economic transformation related to the coal mining and coal-fueled energy sector. The need for a change is related to the development of the European Union’s climate policy and the Paris Agreement commitments.

We want to address these problems by engaging citizens and activists from the Upper Silesia in creating civic campaigns entitled “Silesia without Coal.” We’d like to engage 70 citizens and three representatives of the local government of the Upper Silesia. We will create a space for dialogue and cooperation towards solutions pertaining to changes in the climate policy. Local and regional authorities, NGOs, representatives of business and citizens of the Upper Silesia will be engaged in the dialogue as well. We will organize six webinars for 20 activists. The meetings will focus on methods for civic participation and civic organizing, as well as workshopping civic campaigns. We’ll conduct a series of five academic seminars for activists and citizens of Upper Silesia and the members of the BoMiasto Association, the Upper Silesia Association, and the Silesia Climate Movement on the climate crisis, responsible economy and energy transition. These meetings will serve as an opportunity to build understanding, exchange experiences, and debate over the region’s problems. Selected participants will create three teams that will directly engage people from their communities and create the “Silesia without Coal” campaigns.