Just ten years ago, the coal industry was one of Ukraine’s largest industries. However, with the beginning of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine in 2014, the decay of mining towns in temporarily-occupied territories, accumulating industry debts, and the unstable economic situation have led to the industry’s gradual decline. These challenges stimulated the development of just transition strategies for communities that were previously considered purely mining towns.
A previous article, “Black legacy: How war is turning Ukraine’s coal mines into time bombs,” examined the negative impact of the coal industry on the environment during wartime, with a particular focus on occupied areas. In this article UWEC explores potential solutions, including a just transition process for coal regions. The principle has been actively developing in Ukraine even prior to the full-scale invasion and could become a key phase for the country’s green recovery in the post-war period.
A just transition framework envisages addressing social, economic, cultural and environmental issues in regions and cities built around fossil fuel extraction. There are many examples around the world of single-industry towns that were created on the sites of coal, oil or other natural resource extraction sites. Once the mines were exhausted or production fell, they became depressed areas where people faced social problems and falling living standards.
In Ukraine, entire regions felt the impacts of intensive mining. In addition to those in the Donbas (an abbreviation of the “Donetsk Coal Basin”), there are also single-industry towns in other regions. One example is Sheptytskyi (formerly known as Chervonohrad) in the Lviv region in western Ukraine. After becoming a symbol of decline and Soviet colonization, this city entered a just transition process in 1999-2000, planned for completion by 2027. The framework should breathe life into one of the most depressed cities in western Ukraine.
Today, local governments in mining regions in areas occupied by Russia should also look for ways to implement just transition. The Ukrainian government recently approved a just transition program for coal areas, an effort that could become part of the country’s “green recovery” program.
Why are coal communities declining in Ukraine?
Ukraine’s rich geological position fueled the rapid development of the nation’s coal industry in the 18th century. Its eastern regions—Donetsk and Luhansk—have steadily led in coal production for many years. Mining also occurred in the Dnipro, Lviv and Volyn regions.
Production peaked in the 1970s. In 1977, Ukraine mined a record 218 million metric tons of coal. Since then, production has gradually decreased, and between 1976 and 2010, coal production in Ukraine decreased threefold. Almost no new mines have been built since 1985.
Oleksiy Stohniy, at the Institute of General Energy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, noted that despite these numbers, coal remains the sole extractive energy source in Ukraine, and the country’s coal volumes are potentially sufficient to almost completely meet its domestic economic demand.
Ukraine produced 84 million tons in 2013, with volumes falling further to 65 million tons in 2014, according to data obtained from Mykhailo Volynets, Chairman of the Independent Miners Trade Union of Ukraine. The reason for this significant decline was the start of Russia’s armed aggression in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, where most of the country’s coal mines are concentrated.
Volynets notes that Ukrainian coal beds are known for their high quality. Valuable grades of coke (as known as metallurgical, regional “grade K”) and bituminous (regional “grade Zh”) coal are mined in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. For example, the Pokrovskoye mine produced K grade coal with a sulfur content of 0.6%, while world standards allow up to 1% of sulfur for high-quality consumption. Europe has no P (lean) or A (anthracite) grades of anthracite coal, which Ukraine historically produced. After 2014, mines with valuable coal reserves, infrastructure, enrichment processing facilities, and thermal power plants in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions were occupied and “nationalized” by the Russians.
At the start of 2014, Volynets wrote that 145 coal mines were operating in Ukraine, 135 of which were actually mining coal, but only 19 are operational today. Ukraine has gradually switched from being an exporter into a coal importer. In 2014, the country exported 7.1 million tons of coal. In 2024, it exported only 400,000 tons and imported 1.4 million tons.
This gradual contraction of the coal industry has resulted in deteriorating working conditions for miners, and the accumulation of millions in wage arrears. As of May 2025, miners in the Donetsk region were owed a total of UAH 272.7 million and miners in the Luhansk region were owed UAH 155.2 million, according to regional government data.
Volynets believes that the real figures are much higher. According to him, debts at specific mining companies are significant: Selidovugol—386 million UAH, Toretskugol—18.5 million UAH, Dobropolyeugol—225 million UAH, Myrnohradugol—82 million UAH, Pervomayskugol—56 million UAH.
Without accruing wages in payroll, miners cannot retire on time despite having worked the required number of years underground. Additionally, annual inflation in Ukraine gradually devalues these wages.
When the frontline approaches mining towns, miners have no choice but to leave the towns and find new occupation. Ukraine does not provide jobs for miners who have lost their jobs due to the fighting.
What is “just transition” and how does it work? Case study: Ruhr metropolitan area in Germany
Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainians actively debated the challenges of just transition: how to transition to environmentally friendly energy production while also considering the social needs of coal industry workers and preserving jobs and economic support for regions that depend on the mining industry.
Today, Ukraine continues to move towards joining the European Union. The EU wants Europe to become the first climate-neutral continent, says Anastasia Bushovskaya, a specialist in urban energy policy at the Ecodia Center for Environmental Initiatives. That move is the basis for the gradual introduction of climate-neutral policy in Ukraine, and abandoning coal mining altogether.
However, a sudden closure of the mines and the companies that service them would entail serious economic and social difficulties: falling tax revenue, mining industry job losses, and halting the development of cities whose economy and social policy are based on coal mining. It is for these reasons that environmentalists and government institutions have taken steps to implement a just transition process in mining-dependent cities and towns for many years.
How do communities abandon coal without harming workers and the environment? Just transition success stories for coal towns do exist, including, for example, the Ruhr region in Germany.
Germany’s Ruhr region in the west can well be called the “German Donbass”. It was here where most of the country’s mines were concentrated, mining a variety of grades of coal. However, when the coal and steel crises began (1950s-1970s), the region struggled economically. When the mines had to be closed, a population outflow was inevitable, and there were no prospects for life in the Ruhr. Local residents came to the rescue, promoting the idea of “reincarnation through culture—culture through reincarnation”. Under this slogan, the Ruhr region went from a large industrial agglomeration to a center of artists, scientists and designers.
Projects to preserve the monuments of the industrial past and develop tourism helped to rebuild the region and make it attractive for living. However, it was not easy. When the mine Zollverein received protection as a state monument, it was the workers who were indignant. Germany then carried out a large-scale program to create over 200,000 new jobs in order to offer former miners an alternative.
Today, the Zollverein was preserved in the state it was in when the mine ceased operation. It houses a museum and the coal mine is now filled with exhibits, tours and tourists instead of coal. In 2010, the Ruhr was even chosen as one of Europe’s cultural capitals.
Examples of just transition in Ukraine
A representative of the Association of Coal Communities of Ukraine spoke with the UWEC Work Group about successful examples of fair transition. Back in 2021, the government adopted the “Concept of the State Targeted Program for the just transition of Ukrainian coal regions by 2030”. Its focal areas included a gradual reduction in coal industry dependence, the development of new economic opportunities for mining communities and support for regional socio-economic stability.
The Lviv region was the first in Ukraine to develop an Action Plan for the “Just transition of a coal-focused microregion by 2030”. The comprehensive plan describes a socially just transition to new types of employment that will improve the quality of life of residents of mining towns and create conditions for environmentally sustainable development, energy sustainability and economic diversification of coal communities.
In 2020, in the city of Sheptytskyi (formerly Chervonohrad) in the Lviv region, a pilot project that proposed support for structural changes in the coal regions of Ukraine was presented and began in 2022 with financial assistance from the German government. The project provides for consultations with communities to study promising areas for regional development, attracting investment in new industries, creating new industries, retraining miners, developing the social initiatives, and addressing environmental issues.
The Association of Coal Mining Communities of Ukraine (ACMCU) reports that over the past year the community has managed to implement many important initiatives: repurposing and opening new vocational and technical educational institutions, equipping healthcare institutions with green energy solutions, creating an industrial park, launching the “Factory-Kitchen” project in the Sheptytskyi community, launching the Office and Agency for Just Transition, and others.
The Volyn region also already has a Just Transition Action Plan, which provides for a gradual transition from coal dependence to sustainable development. According to the plan, a just transition for the Volyn coal micro-region is based on the concepts of just transition and green recovery and works to consider the interests of all community stakeholders in social, economic, and environmental development.
“The Litovezh community in the Volyn region implemented the ‘Active Electricity Consumer’ system. Last year, that community successfully installed solar panels on the roof of the DIA Center (Center for Administrative Services, CAS) and on the town’s outpatient clinic building. Only part of the energy is consumed, and the surplus is fed back into the grid,” the ACMCU representative noted. “Importantly, the ability to generate its own energy not only allows the community to meet its needs and sell the surplus, but also ensures stable operation in the event of power outages. During prolonged blackouts, the village council, executive committee, CAAS, clinic, and other institutions operate without interruption.”
A support center opened in Novovolynsk to assist small and medium-sized businesses in mining towns during the just transition process. A Local Economic Development Agency was established to implement urban social and economic community development initiatives in the Ladyzhyn coal community in Vinnytsia region.
ACMCU also highlighted the successes of the Agency for the Development and Restoration of Prisamaria Communities of the Shakhtar City Council and Petropavlovsk Town Council in the Dnipro region. “The agency is part of interregional community cooperation and helps to jointly solve pressing problems by attracting investment, primarily foreign. The agency deals with issues of regional development and change adaptation,” commented the ACMCU representative. “Every Association member community is now interested in development, job creation, and improving economic and social conditions. The Association has attracted more than UAH 17 million in grant support for coal communities. That figure testifies to their activity and desire for positive change.”
According to experts, the success of just transition efforts can be measured by the number of new jobs created outside the coal industry, investments, improvements to education, in particular worker retraining and launching new continuing education opportunities. Educational programs are aimed at teaching new skills, a particularly important need for single-industry towns. These processes can also reduce significant outflows of young people faced with few prospects in these towns.
Is a just transition possible during a full-scale war?
In the context of the full-scale war, the situation has certainly worsened. The destruction of coal mines and industrial enterprises in the combat zone means workers have lost their jobs and there are no prospects for future employment. The wage arrears mentioned above are not being paid and continue to accumulate. Uncontrolled flooding of mines threatens to worsen the environmental situation.
Read more: Black legacy: How war is turning Ukraine’s coal mines into time bombs
The full-scale war has also had a significant impact on the just transition process in coal communities. Many of these municipalities, especially in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have suffered considerable destruction. The ACMCU currently comprises 24 coal communities, six of which are honorary members: communities in the Donetsk (Uhledar, Pokrovsk, Toretsk, Dobropillia, and Mirnohrad city military administrations) and Luhansk (Gorsk city military administration) regions. Some communities are temporarily occupied or located in the combat zone, which significantly complicates the implementation of just transition measures. Additionally, some municipalities have thermal power plants that are regularly subjected to rocket attacks from the Russian Federation.
“Many communities, both those near the front lines and those in the rear, were subjected to enemy air strikes on critical infrastructure, including power plants,” said the ACMCU representative. “Emergency measures had to be taken to ensure that these communities were not left without heat and electricity in winter. Central and local authorities have taken many steps to minimize these risks. We are very grateful to our European partners for providing financial assistance for equipment purchases.”
At the same time, these challenges have prompted many communities to accelerate the construction of small distributed generation facilities, including those based on renewable energy sources. Today, Ukraine’s transition to distributed generation has finally become part of the state strategy.
Despite the war, the transformation is not only ongoing but gathering speed in communities that are not under occupation. ACMCU underscores the importance of transferring today’s successful just transition experiences to de-occupied coal communities in the future.
With a track record of successful projects, cooperation with international donors, productive communication between coal communities and the central government, and experience in the phased implementation of the state’s just transition program, just transitions can occur more quickly and effectively in those regions that have suffered for decades from mine closures and tremendous economic, infrastructural, and environmental losses as a result of the war.
ACMCU’s representative noted that, “Ukraine has committed to phasing out coal by 2035. The government plans to achieve its goals despite the war and declares that a just transition for coal regions is an essential factor for achieving this goal.”
“In November 2023, nine local governments came together and established ACMCU. We promote effective communication between central authorities and local governments, defend and lobby for the interests of coal communities at the national level, participate in the State Target Program for Just Transition by 2030, provide free assistance to representatives of coal communities (hromady) in preparing grant applications and attracting funding, and issue recommendations and proposals linked to the Fund for the Just Transition of Coal Regions’s priorities and programs,” continued the representative.
The government recently presented a draft state “Program for the just transition of coal regions by 2030”. However, a number of public organizations (Ekodia, Alternativa, Razom We Stand, Center for Anti-Crisis Research, Shield, DOBRO Dobropilska Youth Center, and the Ecoclub) noted that the program does not offer specific solutions.
Civil society organizations have observed that the program lacks clear criteria for determining which projects meaningfully connect with the just transition framework. The risk is that any project located in a coal region could be considered transformational solely based on its location.
“This should not be just a set of infrastructure projects, but a real tool for economic recovery and a just future for communities that have depended on coal for decades. We understand that participation in the program is not easy, especially in the context of a full-scale war, and that is why we want the document to be of the highest quality and to really work,” notes Anastasia Bushovskaya.
The program allows projects using natural gas, a move which contradicts EU just transition requirements. The document also lacks clear mechanisms for coordination with local just transition plans, does not inventory closed mines, and lacks measures for dealing with infrastructure after the liquidation of coal enterprises.
The organizations appealed to the Ministry of Community and Territorial Development in order to implement a new procedure for closing mines that replaces the current procedure, a process they believe is outdated and which does not meet environmental requirements.
For now, Ukraine is unable to cope with its policy regarding existing coal mines and communities, as well as the millions in back wages owed to miners, destroyed infrastructure, an unstable economic situation, and miners losing their jobs with no prospects for employment. It is high time to start providing comprehensive assistance to unemployed miners following the start of the full-scale invasion. This would be the first real step towards a just transition for Ukraine’s coal communities against the backdrop of a full-scale war with Russia.
The just transition process is only just beginning. The start of the full-scale invasion significantly worsened the state of Ukraine’s coal industry, adding new challenges. Although there are examples of programs, strategies and plans, there are still no successful projects in Ukraine’s coal company towns that demonstrate concrete results in a just transition framework comparable to mining towns in Germany’s Ruhr region. Work continues despite the war, lending optimism for Ukraine’s ongoing investment in its communities.