On June 10th 2021 the ENTRANCES project organised a virtual co-creation meeting on “Co-creating knowledge on coal and carbon-intensive regions in transition: EU policy and scientific approach”.

The main objective of this co-creation meeting was to trigger and help drive dialogue to ensure that the future results of the ENTRANCES project can support EU policies, contribute to bridging the current knowledge gap, and produce policy recommendations to tackle the multiple challenges faced by communities in the European coal and carbon-intensive regions.

The co-creation meeting was divided into two sessions. At the morning session, the discussion was focused on the impacts of the EU policies and the presentation of the ENTRANCES project. The session was opened by the Project coordinator, Ricardo Garcia Mira and the representatives of different directorates of the European Commission, ENER, RTD, EMPL, REGIO and the Cabinet of the Executive Vice President for European Green Deal Frans Timmermans intervened. During this session, Giovanni Caiati of K&I and Manfred Spiesberger of ZSI, presented the overall approach of the ENTRANCES project. 

The afternoon session was dedicated to an exchange of experiences among representatives of European and International coal and carbon-intensive regions in transition, regional experts on energy transition and gender and representatives of different European research projects focused on these issues, including the sister projects TRACER, TIPPING+ and CINTRAN. During the afternoon session, Fabio Feudo, of K&I, chaired one of the three discussion rooms.

Overall more than 100 policymakers, experts, regional stakeholders and researchers participated in the meeting. The co-creation meeting was virtually hosted by EURADA – The European Association of Regional Development Agencies – and chaired by its director Esteban Pelayo.