Bitola maps its renewable sources, but the forum heard that an analysis for Pelagonia's miners still hasn't been done

At a forum on the just energy transition in Skopje, the Municipality of Bitola arrived with a presentation. Secretary Borče Dimitrovski presented a new project with the Energy Community that maps the potential for renewable sources across the municipality, along with a memorandum recently signed in Budva that puts the focus on the Žabeni industrial zone. According to the municipality, the two projects put Bitola "high on the map of regions".

A map of potential and a memorandum are a good start. But the forum, organised by the Youth Cultural Centre Bitola, "Eko-svest" and the Olof Palme centre, also said what didn't make it into the municipal press release. The consequences of energy decisions, which are mostly made at national level, hit hardest in the regions that depend on coal - and the workers there are often left out of the discussions about their own future.

For the Pelagonia region, it was stressed, a labour market analysis has to come before any concrete plans: which jobs exist, which are at risk, what skills will be needed and where new industries could open up. "A just energy transition has to connect climate goals with people's real social and economic needs," said Elena Nikolovska of Eko-svest.

Pelagonia has lived for decades off coal and the electricity made from it. Mapping sun and wind can be done on a computer. But if the analysis of what the miners and their children will actually do for work is still waiting to be written, then who is really planning this transition - and for whom?