Coal Roots, Green Shoots: How Velenje is balancing an industrial past with a clean future

Once built around coal mining, Velenje—one of Slovenia’s sunniest and greenest cities—is transforming to achieve climate neutrality. The city has committed to phasing out coal by 2033 but will have to reconcile its industrial heritage with the demands of a sustainable future. Read here about how it is testing innovative solutions to meet its environmental goals.

While Velenje may owe much of its development to the coal industry, it has also evolved into a vibrant city with rich culture and youthful energy, illustrated by well-designed playgrounds, a youth centre, and by far the largest children’s festival in the region. It hosts famous cultural events and is a popular tourist destination thanks to its exceptional location between lakes and mountains. Small enough to reach everything in 20 minutes, but big enough to offer modern infrastructure and cultural life, Velenje is proving itself ambitious enough to embark on the mission to transform to climate neutrality and address the great challenge lying underground.

A city built on coal

The history of Velenje is closely linked to the lignite that lies beneath its surface. Sixty-five years ago, the government of the former Yugoslavia urbanised the area and people across the country were relocated to work in the coal mines. The city’s lifeblood became the thermal power plant, powered mostly by brown coal, providing energy to 95% of the region. After many years of prosperity from coal energy, the municipality of Velenje decided to move with the times and take a challenging step to transition to more environmentally friendly solutions.

While coal brought prosperity, it also tied Velenje to a past heavily reliant on fossil fuels. “It’s not easy when a city’s economy is so deeply connected to one industry,” says Igor Kapš from the Economic Development and Transition Office of the Municipality of Velenje. “Our two out of tree largest employers, the coal mine and the plant, are at the centre of this transition. More than 4,000 jobs are directly linked to them.”

The city is working hard to change this. Among other initiatives, Velenje has joined the EIT Climate-KIC-led NetZeroCities programme as well as the Pilot Cities Programme with its UP-SCALE project, together with Ljubljana and Kranj, pioneering changes in governance structures and management at multiple levels and will hold the title of European Green Leaf in 2024 a nod to its increased focus on sustainability.

“This is a large-scale project that needs to be approached from multiple angles such as the future of work, new energy sources, financing the transition and much more. Velenje was born out of coal and it grew up alongside it,” says Kapš, who leads the city’s pilot project. “The mentality of the people is one of our biggest challenges. We are still working with the first generation of miners, who find it difficult to comprehend the need to shut down the mine and shift to renewable energy.”

The first steps towards a green future with citizens at heart

“76% of our emissions come from heating, so that’s where we need to focus our efforts,” Kapš explains. “We have a solid plan in place, and we’ve secured funds from the Just Transition Fund to get started, but it’s still a huge challenge. The transition is a complex puzzle involving both physical infrastructure as well as public awareness and engagement.”

As a first step, the municipality has drawn up an action plan based on an in-depth analysis on the feasibility of different DHS scenarios and the local potential for renewable energy sources in line with the just transition and the coal phase-out. It proposes the transition to an innovative DHS regime, comprised of PV thermal and solar collectors, heat storage, high-voltage electrode boilers, heat pumps, and is considered the most economically feasible and sustainable.

“The action plan envisages investment in the renovation of buildings and energy retrofitting as one of the most important steps to minimise losses and provide sufficient energy data for digitalisation,” explains Kapš. As part of the UP-SCALE project, Velenje is focussing on reducing the consumption of thermal energy in public and residential buildings.

“The main goal is to create a digital tool that collects data on energy consumption and with which we can run simulations on the impact of efficient energy use for an individual facility. To the greatest extent possible, we want to inform the citizens about the importance of the energy renovations carried out, about the renovation of the remote system and the transition to a low-temperature regime, of course with the ultimate aim of reducing the consumption of thermal energy,“ says Kapš.

These measures will enable citizens to monitor energy consumption and hopefully take cost-saving measures — in other words, change their consumption habits. “We are implementing all these technical measures, but nothing will happen without citizen engagement. People need more awareness about climate change, but also about practical issues such as how they can manage their energy use,” says Kapš. “It’s simple things like using thermostats correctly. We still see people heating their apartments with the windows wide open. So, part of the solution is technological, but part is also behaviour change.”

Velenje focuses on behaviour change and believes that citizens should be at the centre of the transition. That is why, on 4 July this year, the municipality opened a one-stop shop as part of their UP-SCALE project, the Climate Energy Office. It is a physical space for residents with experts on hand to provide information and advice on energy efficiency and climate change. The office runs numerous initiatives, such as offering financial incentives to help people switch to new electric thermostats.

“We really have the spirit of: Let’s really do something for the people. And we see it as a long-term initiative. It’s not about just taking part in one project and then, when it’s over, moving on to another. Climate change is a complex challenge and the answer to combat it is not going to be simple. We need to take a systemic approach and tackle the problem on several fronts, as everything is intertwined,”– says Kapš.

The long road to Just Transition

The clock is ticking for Velenje’s coal phase-out, with a deadline set for 2033, but the city is under no illusions about the scale of the challenge ahead. The closure of the coal mine will inevitably lead to job losses, and the region’s economy will need to be restructured to accommodate the shift away from coal. The city is already planning for this transition and taking citizens’ concerns to heart.

“It won’t happen overnight,” Kapš continues. “But people are afraid. They believe that one day the mine will close and they will be left without jobs. We have to keep emphasising that this is a process. We are talking about long-term strategies that will develop over the next decade.”

Velenje is not just focused on energy and industry; it’s also looking at how to create a greener, more sustainable community. The city has already made strides in sustainable mobility, having introduced free public transport in 2008 and expanding its cycling infrastructure.

“We want to reduce the number of cars in the city centre and promote walking and cycling,” says Kapš. “We’ve been working on this for over a decade, and the results are starting to show. It’s about changing habits, just like with energy consumption.”

A future built on green foundations

Despite the uncertainties about the future, Velenje is pressing ahead with optimism and determination. In addition to decarbonising its energy system, the city is investing in deep building renovations, green infrastructure projects, and digitising its services to create a smarter, more efficient urban environment.

“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” Kapš says. “We’ve made a lot of progress, but the hardest part is getting everyone involved—citizens, businesses and policymakers. The measures we’re implementing are ambitious but realistic, and we’re confident that we can reach our goals. We’re not just transforming our energy system, we’re transforming who we are as a city, and that’s the real challenge.”