Rybnik to focus on social innovations and green technologies

In the next dozen or so years, Polish cities will face large investments related to the need to adapt to the European climate policy and to counteract climate change. Funds are needed primarily for new technologies that will improve the quality of life in the long term. However, the situation was complicated by a pandemic, as a result of which local governments lost millions of zlotys, among others through the costs of fighting the virus and lower tax revenues. In difficult times, an innovative approach to management is needed, especially in cities with an economy based on mines. As part of the Rybnik360 project, the Silesian city wants to replace mining, which is gradually being phased out, with green technologies and renewable energy sources by 2035.
"Rybnik is a city with two hard coal mines, several more are in the immediate vicinity, and many inhabitants of Rybnik work in the mining industry. Additionally, there is a coal-fired power plant in its area, therefore everything related to the restructuring of the mining industry and with the departure from coal will have a very strong influence on our city. We have concerns and fears about it, but we are also fully aware that this process must take place and we simply need to prepare for it," Piotr Masłowski, vice-president of Rybnik, said.
These fears are largely the result of the experience with the closure of the Rybnik mine in the 1990s, which impoverished the neighborhood around it. Therefore, the city is working on the development of alternative mining areas that will allow for painless abandonment of coal production, especially in the context of job protection.
"It is high time to move away from thinking about Silesia as a place where you work hard physically. Therefore, what we want to work on is, on the one hand, the development of areas related to green jobs, renewable energy sources, and on the other hand, we care to bring accounting services, service centers, and new office space to Rybnik. In this way, we want young people leaving the city to study, to create such conditions that they would like to come back to," Rybnik's vice-president pointed out.
(Newseria)