WHAT'S NEW IN KATOWICE?
KATOWICE
At the center of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin in southern Poland, Katowice, one of Europe’s most populated urban areas, boomed with the industrial revolution and is now looking to phase out coal and fossil fuel completely.
Historically, the predominant industry in Katowice and the surrounding region was coal, steel and zinc. As the country made the transition to a market economy in the mid-1990s, the Polish government closed the coal mines, prompting an urban and cultural transformation.
LEES MEER
The Katowice coal region now has a well-diversified economic structure. Jobs in mining and in mining-related industries constitutes slightly over 10% of all jobs in the region. Their status is secured by a Social Agreement from May 2021.
By the total phase-out of coal in 2049, workers in mining-related industries will either have retired or be posted in to the few remaining mines in Rybnicki Coal Region that will stay open for strategic reasons.