Background information

Operational Programme Just Transition is a completely new programme for the period 2021 - 2027 which addressing negative impacts of the shift away from coal in most affected regions. In Czechia, this concerns Karlovy Vary, Moravian-Silesian and Ústí Regions. The main objective of the support is to enable regions and people to address the social, employment, economic and environmental impacts of the transition towards the European Union’s 2030 targets for energy and climate and a climate-neutral economy of the Union by 2050. The programme is funded by Just Transition Fund (FST).

The rules for funding are based on the so-called Plán spravedlivé územní transformace /Plan on Just Transition on regional level: https://dotaceeu.cz/cs/evropske-fondy-v-cr/kohezni-politika-po-roce-2020/uhelne-regiony/plan-spravedlive-uzemni-transformace-(psut) Rules are laid down by European regulations (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/procedure/CS/2018_196), there is no need to adopt specific national legislation. The programme is administratively managed by the Ministry of the Environment as the Managing Authority in cooperation with the State Environmental Fund of the Czech Republic as the Intermediary Body.

Content of measure

The biggest problems with the transformation in Czechia are common to the Karlovy Vary, Moravian-Silesian and Ústí nad Labem regions. Those regions are the receivers of the Programme. Among the key activities, that are supported in the territory, are included investments in the establishment of new productive investment in small and medium-sized enterprises, improving qualifications, and retraining of workers and the reuse and regeneration of unused sites. Included is a research and innovation support, digitalisation, investing in the circular economy and helping jobseekers in the labour market. Particullarly articulated are issues as reuse of brown coal mining and related industries, including energy and heating (typical for those regions) another important topic is education area. The maximum amount of aid for the programme concerned is EUR 1 641 492 008. There are criteria for allocation to the coal regions which allocate funding according to five indicators that reflect the current state of each region and their future needs for a successful transition to a low-carbon economy. The indicators used are: 1/ population; 2/gross domestic product; 3/ unemployment; 4/ area affected by mining; 5/ number of employees in research and development. On the basis of these indicators, the funds are distributed among the regions as follows: 1/ Karlovy Vary Region - 15.3% of the total allocation; 2/ Moravian-Silesian Region - 46.1% of the total allocation; Ústí Region - 38.6% of the total allocation. Calls are open on this page: https://opst.cz/nabidka-dotaci/

Use of measure

The programme supports a wide range of applicants: municipalities, regions, SMEs, universities, research institutions and others. Large enterprises are also eligible for support. However, productive investments in large enterprises can only be supported if they are explicitly mentioned in the Plan on Just Transition on regional level, which is preceded by a business analysis for job creation in the region.

According the Pragramme Just Transition https://www.mzp.cz/C1257458002F0DC7/cz/opst_2021_2027/$FILE/OPTNE-OPST_cs-20220929.pdf, the total number of participants (persons) is 5422, number of supported companies is 707, companies by grants is 707, number of companies supported by financial instruments is 71, Classroom capacity in new or upgraded educational facilities is 24 466.

Target groups

Workers	Businesses	Citizens
Applies to all workers	Applies to all businesses	Applies to all citizens

Actors and funding

Actors	Funding
Employers' organisations Company / Companies Other social actors (e.g. NGOs) Local / regional government Public employment service	National funds National Recovery and Resilience Facility

Social partners

Social partners' role in designing the measure and form of involvement:

	Trade unions	Employers' organisations
Role	Consulted	Consulted
Form	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal	Any other form of consultation, institutionalised (as stable working groups or committees) or informal

Social partners' role in the implementation, monitoring and assessment phase:

• Social partners jointly
• Main level of involvement: Regional or local level

Involvement

The involvement of social partners is ensured via so called Transformation Platform, which is created by representatives of ministries (Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Regional Development, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Culture), representatives of regions (NNO, companies, local governments), buut also representatives of social partners - association of employers and representatives of employees (e.g. Czech-Moravian Confederation of Industry, Association of SMEs, Chamber of Commerce, on regional level e.g. Economic and Social Council of the Ústí nad Labem Region). In time of the preparation the members of the Transformation Platform were regularly informed about the outputs of the consultancy work in the preparation of the of the Plan of the fair territorial trasition. The Members should also define expectations from the transformation process, activities leading to the fulfilment of these objectives, participates in the activation of the territory and follows the development of typical transformation activities over time. The sole is mainly advisory, giving the advisory opinions.

Views and reactions

Employers' representatives (Chamber of Commerec specifically) focused on conducting analyses, for example, identifying white spaces in what businesses need (e.g. mainly in the area of digitalisation), trying to eliminate duplications in funding from other financial titles.

Sectors and occupations

This case is not occupation-specific.

Sources

• 16 December 2024: Operační program Spravedlivá transformace (opst.cz)