Sheptytskyi: The Ukrainian city that wants to end coal dominance

The Ukrainian city of Sheptytskyi is looking for a sustainable future beyond the shadow of the coal industry. Despite the harsh conditions due to the ongoing war and the lack of European funding, the local government invests in ambitious projects, striving for energy transformation and retraining of the workforce. These ambitions were presented during a conference in the Slovenian city of Zagorje.

The city is located near the Polish border, about 62 kilometers north of Lviv. It was one of the cities that changed their Soviet names after Russia invaded Ukraine. Originally called Chervenohrad, it was renamed to Sheptytsky, to honor a local Orthodox archbishop. However, the vision of the administration does not end with the name change; it also includes an ambitious transformation.

If coal regions in the European Union enjoy access to European funds for their transitions, Ukrainian cities do not. Despite this Sheptytskyi is making efforts to build a new economy by abandoning coal.

The population of the city was 90 thousand before the war, but now it has decreased to about 64 thousand because of mass migration, according to Mayor Andriy Zalivsky. The basis of the local economy is the coal industry, which provides jobs for 6,000 people.

A number of projects are already underway. Undoubtedly, chief among them is the one for the creation of an industrial park, which will occupy 80 hectares of land near a coal mine. There is a plan for the construction of a large solar power plant there, which will create over 3 thousand new jobs. The location was strategically chosen for its proximity to railway lines and border crossings to facilitate international trade.

The project documentation has been prepared. The company managing this park has been selected. We are now discussing financing," Zalivsky told Economic.bg.

The project will be implemented with the support of German and local funding. It is expected that the park will attract investors from the food, furniture and paper industries. The park will include wood processing plants, production of wooden and cork products, and laboratories for independent testing of raw materials and finished products.

The local government is investing in the education and retraining of the workforce. Together with the German agency GIZ, the city is developing new professional profiles and equipping educational institutions with modern technologies such as geothermal pumps and solar stations. Local educational institutions are already preparing personnel for renewable energy and other industries, encouraging innovation. There is also a startup lab where young people learn how they can create their own companies.

The mining and economics professional college in the city launched a new program years ago – training for the repair and maintenance of solar electrical installations. By September 2022, 25 students had started studying how to work on alternative sources of energy.

All these efforts are accompanied by the fight against corruption, which is a key factor in attracting investors and developing projects. Despite the challenges, Sheptytskyi drew on international partnerships with Slovenia and Poland to apply successful practices to its transformation. The city is already part of a pilot project for a just transition in the region, serving as a role model for other Ukrainian communities.

Our main goal is to keep people here," emphasized the mayor of Sheptytskyi. "They are our greatest asset and the engine of the transformation that we are striving to achieve."

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Translated by Tzvetozar Vincent Iolov