In 2018, coal mining in Germany came to an end. While post-mining development had begun in the south of the Ruhr Valley as early as the 1970s when the last mine in that area was closed, the entire region has now become supremely conscious of post-mining. The special focus here is initially on the so-called perpetual tasks of post-mining in the water management sector (mine water retention, polder measures, groundwater purification) and their geoscientific challenges. In addition, there is a need for successful management of the physical, ecological and socio-economic legacies of the discontinued coal mining and support for the further transition of the (now former) coal regions along the Ruhr and Saar Rivers and in Ibbenbüren. The political decisions in 2020 to exit coal-fired power generation in Germany by no later than 2038 also heralded the end of domestic lignite mining, bringing the issue of post-mining to the fore in the lignite regions as well. Since all mining is finite – as demonstrated in Germany in the past by the examples of iron ore mining in Western Germany or uranium ore mining in Eastern Germany – the industry must always face at some point and everywhere in the world a transition to post-mining and its specific problems, which vary in the magnitude of their seriousness in dependence on the circumstances in each case.
In cognisance of this inevitability, the TH Georg Agricola University (THGA), Bochum/Germany, has been focusing on this field by offering a special course of study in post-mining since 2012, and the Research Center of Post-Mining (FZN), established in 2015, is the first institution in Germany to concentrate explicitly on post-mining issues, including the restoration and subsequent use of the reclaimed areas and the path of the transition to post-mining structures. The first steps were taken with the endowment of the chair “Geoengineering and Post-Mining” and the re-accreditation of the work-study master’s programme “Geoengineering and Post-Mining” and work continued to advance.
In 2019 and 2020, the range of research activities at the FZN was expanded from the previous one pillar of perpetual tasks to include three additional research divisions, one of which is the division Reactivation and Transition that will be presented here in greater detail.
Guiding principle and research structure of the FZN
The FZN is now an independent science and transfer institution of the THGA that enjoys national and international recognition.
Research into gaining sustainable mastery over the impact of mine closures and the conversion of the former mine premises and infrastructures into facilities that can serve a meaningful use in the future are at the heart of the FZN’s work. Research into socio-economic and structural policy aspects of reactivation and transition in addition to technical questions is being intensified.
Still, the essential scientific basis for dealing with the challenges resulting from mine closures and post-mining activities has not yet been systematically developed and the various players have yet to be adequately interconnected in a network. The realisation of these basic conditions demands the initiation of innovation processes directed toward the actors in society, business and public administration. The FZN is taking on these tasks as well. It aspires to be a competent partner for all sectors of post-mining on an (inter)national level by bundling and integrating the various know-how carriers and their professional competencies. In pursuing these goals, the FZN simultaneously fosters a responsible and sustainable supply of raw materials for society as a whole within the sense of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (1) by anticipating the end of mining and the burdens that will result from its termination.
Following the expansion of the range of its research, the FZN is now active in the four research divisions described below (Figure 1):
- Perpetual Tasks and mine water management: The FZN is seeking solutions for perpetual tasks that are solidly based on findings of geoscience.
- Geomonitoring in former mining and post-mining areas, in particular for surface protection.
- Material Sciences for the preservation and reuse of the industrial heritage in conjunction with the “Heritage Conservation Center Ruhr”, which is operated jointly with the German Mining Museum.
- Reactivation and Transition: The FZN supports and investigates the transition of mine premises and regions and links regional policy and land development with socio-economic aspects and governance issues.
Fig. 1. Overview of research priorities at the FZN. // Bild 1. Übersicht Forschungsschwerpunkte im FZN. Source/Quelle: THGA
The facilitation of the scientific-social discourse among companies, authorities and social actors, the creation of transparency and the promotion of social acceptance constitute further major aspects of the work.
Research topic regional policy and land development
This field of research examines the regional and structural policy framework conditions as well as the economic and social circumstances of post-mining in specific regions. Stimulating proposals specifically aimed at the further development of regional assistance or land use and post-use concepts must be developed to achieve the desired results. These are the fundamental prerequisites for securing the participation and interconnection of the relevant actors for regional discourse. The economic and social framework conditions at the national and European levels for regional policy support of post-mining regions are also a material part of the current EU initiative “Coal Regions in Transition” that has in the meantime been expanded into the initiative “Coal and Carbon-Intensive Regions in Transition” and integrated into the new “Just Transition Mechanism” of EU climate policy.
Another research aspect is the evaluation and development of regional economic monitoring systems for former mining regions. The regional impacts of the closures of the former mining sites must be identified and broken down to the success parameters at the municipal level. The available experience with integrated planning processes that bring together the private-sector interests of property owners with the public-sector processes of the public authorities must be scientifically analysed and structured for this purpose. A successful transformation of the former mining sites into real estate market properties also requires active corporate real estate management on the part of the land owners that should supplement the core mining business. Comparable approaches must also be scientifically identified at the European level.
Data from previous actions along the Ruhr and Saar are available to the FZN and can be used as a basis for the development of a number of best-practise concepts for other regions (2). The experience of the last 30 years shows that such concepts must always be adapted to the specific political, social and economic situation in the regions and the municipalities. Some examples of the experience obtained along these lines include the many years of support provided to the Lausitzer und Mitteldeutsche Bergbau-Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (LMBV) for regional and site development in the eastern German lignite regions in the 1990s, various European research projects or assistance for structural change in the Polish mining region around Katowice initiated by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. The experience that has been gained from post-mining measures in hard coal regions can in future provide an especially useful basis for the upcoming transition of the lignite mining areas and establish a solid research approach for these actions, provided there is close cooperation among local actors from science, politics, public administration and the general public.
Among other activities, research initiatives are being developed to determine how projects with special significance for shaping the post-mining period can be identified, focused and turned into potential successes in the lignite mining area. The pertinent actors would have the opportunity to access a pool of knowledge that can be used to review and implement regional visions, strategies and concepts as appropriate to their specific interests, supporting various planning, decision-making and realisation levels of the future. The implementation capability is prepared by options for action that can and should serve the future potential for success as a priority. This must be accompanied by necessary updates and transferability on the national and international scale.
It is, of course, not a simple matter to describe and assess the potential for success of the options for action that support the change process in the mining regions with adequate probability or a complete risk profile. It is helpful if knowledge management and network structures that make data, facts, methods and processes available to the regional actors for this purpose are established and realised organisationally. These types of structures could (among other things) provide solution-oriented starting points, especially for meeting the current and future challenges arising from the energy transition, for both the eastern and western structural transformation in the German and European coal and post-coal mining regions. The structural transformation, primarily of coal regions, is also being monitored and analysed by researchers in this field wherever possible in other parts of the world with the objective of obtaining constructive insights into the opportunities and problems in structuring post-mining measures.
Research topic socio-economic aspects
The closure of mines and the subsequent transition to and continuation of post-mining inevitably affects the socio-economic development of the impacted regions. Whenever at all possible, new jobs must be created, new uses for old locations must be found and the most equitable transformation possible of each region must be prioritised and structured so that regional or at least local decline and decay do not occur. The Ruhr Valley’s shimmering experience in this regard over the past decades provides quite a wealth of illustrative material that in international comparisons (especially with the many negative examples in other defunct mining locations and areas of the world) represents in some respects a global lighthouse project for other post-mining regions (3).
As Kretschmann has stated (4), “in the research division Reactivation and Transition, the effects of post-use [should be] investigated and evaluated in the sense of socio-economic aspects. Regional and international economic surveys and assessments of various closed mining sectors are being conducted. Case studies on the links between closure, post-mining and structural change are the basis for examination of measures for the affected regions. The focus here is on the former coal mining areas (in particular on the Ruhr Valley), the drivers and processes of structural transformation as well as the success factors of structural and regional planning.”
Starting points are found above all in local and regional monitoring, SWOT analyses (analyses of specific strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of socio-economic development and comparative studies for similar processes of change and transformation in other industrial sectors. In addition, the particular market and innovation potential of the post-mining sector must be analysed so that its active contribution to structural change can be assessed and companies can be aided in the further development and marketing of their products, services and other knowledge in the post-mining and reactivation sector (5).
Actively developing a former mining region in the long term and helping it to achieve new, lasting prosperity requires a sustainable transformation, i.e. procedures that, according to Kretschmann, “aim for long-term improvements in the region’s economic, ecological and social capabilities and encompass the long-term consequences – risks and opportunities of today’s planning and actions. … Why is a sustainable transformation important for mining regions? Because the decision to disinvest and close a mine may require no more than one meeting [of decision-makers]. The effects of this decision on the mining region may last for a generation, however. It is the task of risk management to minimise the consequences of disinvestment and to exploit the resulting potential.”(6)
The current climate and energy policy decisions in Germany and the EU intended to accelerate the decarbonisation of the energy system, ultimately to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and fundamentally to shift conventional energy production that has in the past been largely based on the use of fossil energy sources (predominantly oil and gas) – that still have a share of about 80 % – to renewable energies, greater energy efficiency and energy applications using green electricity (energy transition) are significant as examples of such sustainable transformation.
These decisions have already resulted – and continue to result – in various (sometimes surprisingly) productive opportunities for the post-coal mining regions and the companies in the coal industry that have been hit hard by the simultaneity of the coal exit and the termination of coal mining. They include the generation of electricity from mine gas (which has been and will continue to be subsidised by the Renewable Energies Act (EEG), the generation of geothermal energy from mining shafts (heat mines), especially the extraction of heat from mine water to supply heat to buildings and other uses, wind power plants on mining heaps (which are particularly effective onshore locations for wind power due to their height and wind accessibility) as well as photovoltaic (PV) plants on open spaces and the roofs of the buildings on former mining sites or on the slopes of the mining heaps, joined by the production of biomass on former mine premises or the installation of underground pumped-storage power plants; the latter is at any rate technically possible, but is not economically feasible in Germany under present conditions. (7)
At the same time, these examples demonstrate the close relationship between post-coal mining and the past, present and future of energy supply and the framework decisions of energy policy decisive for this relationship; the research division Reactivation and Transition will continue to follow closely these decisions and their regional consequences. (8)
The aforementioned energy transition projects simultaneously represent substantial opportunities for new jobs and added value for the post-mining regions, although the extent to which they will be adequate to compensate fully or even overcompensate the loss of mining as a regional economic and employment factor is uncertain. In any case, the creation of adequate new production capacities and jobs, not only in the energy sector, is an ongoing and absolutely key socio-economic challenge in economically declining mining or post-mining regions, making it one of the major points of interest in this research division. (9)
Research topic governance
The political-social control and regulation (governance) of the structural transformation from mining to post-mining and of its further development is another key research topic. A separation from the topics of the discussion above is virtually impossible when considering broad subjects such as regional policy, energy policy or employment policy in relation to post-mining. In addition, there are the multi-level problems typical in governance practise as well as the multidimensionality of the desirable aspiration to realise good and sustainable governance as exemplified in the “Sustainable Governance Index” set forth by the Bertelsmann Foundation. (10) Regional planning is an indispensable instrument for balancing the interests of the acting players, who must develop a common strategy through forward-looking governance models. (11)
Fig. 2. World Bank Report to the World Climate Conference in Katowice, December 2018. // Bild 2. Weltbankreport zur Weltklimakonferenz in Kattowitz, Dezember 2018. Source/Quelle: Weltbank
The significance of governance issues can hardly be underestimated with regard to such questions as the “social engineering” of coal mine closures; they are documented in the World Bank report, “Managing coal mine closures: achieving a just transition for all” from the end of 2018 – presented during the World Climate Conference in Katowice (Figure 2) – that considered a whole range of international experience on this topic in which the World Bank was involved as well as in other pertinent scientific studies such as the one by Bainton/Holcombe of the Center for Social Responsibility in Mining of the Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) of the University of Queensland/Australia (Figure 3) on the social and socio-economic aspects of coal mine closures or even the present national experience with the socially tolerable termination of coal mining and the projects for the termination of lignite mining in Germany.
Fig. 3. Bainton/Holcombe’s findings on open research questions regarding “The Social Aspects of Mine Closures” (2018). // Bild 3. Befund von Bainton/Holcombe zu offenen Forschungsfra-gen bzgl. „Social Aspects of Mine Closures“ (2018). Source/Quelle: SMI
Closer analysis reveals at the same time that there are still numerous and substantial gaps in research that need to be closed and are consequently the focus of this research division. (12)
The issue of governance is also the very concrete topic of a research project currently being conducted by the FZN on behalf of the Ruhr Regional Association (RVR) concerning the mine site agreement between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, RAG Aktiengesell-schaft, the RVR and the involved municipalities in the Ruhr Valley.
The mine site agreement for the proactive revitalisation of major mine sites with the objective of producing concrete contributions to the successful transformation of the former mining regions was concluded among these stakeholders in 2014 (Figure 4).
Fig. 4. Mine site agreement (13). // Bild 4. Bergbau-Flächenvereinbarung (13).
The model of cooperation and coordinated public and public-private action for the development of the post-mining sites in the Ruhr Metropolis and in the Ibbenbüren coal region has been rigorously implemented (13). The intermunicipal working group “Transformation as an Opportunity” and in particular the mine site agreement are the subjects of a persistently high level of international and European queries (14). The sharing of experience relates in particular to the agreement on joint action, the strategic orientation of cooperation and the practical steps of implementation. The cooperation between the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, the RVR, the affected municipalities and RAG as the owner of the former mine sites has led to a transparency and solidarity that have made it possible to resolve even difficult issues together. Twenty development sites have been jointly developed in regional coordination since 2014 and successfully realised as on-site operations. Both the mine site agreement and single projects have been repeatedly presented and discussed as best-practise projects on the EU platform “Coal Regions in Transition” in Brussels.
Future directions of the research division Reactivation and Transition at the FZN
The future work of the research division Reactivation and Transition will focus on four levels:
- At the international level, the research division will engage in its areas of specialisation with the FZN’s many international contacts such as in China, the USA and Australia. Moreover, an international catalogue of post-mining projects and the various plans worldwide for the reuse of closed mines has been considered and is still under review. There have also been preliminary discussions (as of this time) on a possible World Bank engagement to illuminate the German road to an orderly and socially tolerable exit from coal mining, including its provisions for post-mining, for use in international comparisons and the sharing of experience. Ukraine and the western Balkan states as well as others have signalled a particular interest in hearing about this.
- At the European level, the research division will (continue to) participate actively in the EU initiative “Coal and Carbon-Intensive Regions in Transition”, which has already established an information and dialogue platform across the EU and beyond for the structural transformation of coal regions and regions with CO2-intensive production (heavy industry, oil shale and peat extraction) away from coal and other sectors characterised by a large CO2footprint; the aim is to push ahead in the future in terms of structural policy within the framework of the “Green Deal for Europe” and its “Just Transition Fund”. This initiative provides (for one) a wealth of studies, presentations, toolkits or other material on reactivation and transition in particular that still awaits impartial scientific reflection and analysis (15). For another, it offers various opportunities to participate in new EU-funded scientific projects (16).
- At the national level, the planned coal exit in Germany will be a significant focus of research interest, and particular attention will be devoted to the experience and knowledge that have been gained during the termination of domestic coal mining and its transformation to post-mining. Another topic for the research division Reactivation and Transition will be the integration of post-mining (that is even today still inadequate) into the new national raw materials strategy that was adopted by the federal government at the beginning of 2020. Although there is talk of “sustainable mine closures”, the term “post-mining” is not explicitly mentioned. Any raw material strategy can fulfil the aspiration of sustainability it has set for itself solely if it also considers post-mining from the outset and prioritises its integration appropriately to its significance. At the same time, post-mining also creates new or additional raw materials of the future – i. e., energy raw materials such as mine gas or shaft heat – or bioresources such as those planned for the lignite mining area while the sustainable conversion of coal regions generates additional demand in the area of infrastructure alone for the so-called future raw materials – such as rare earths – as well as for classic construction raw materials (17).
- Finally, the research division Reactivation and Transition will actively engage in the specialist discussion regarding an economically and socially future-oriented structural transformation of the post-mining coal regions in Germany, especially in the Ruhr Valley, at the regional level. The above-mentioned research project on the mine site agreement, e. g., provides some starting points for an in-depth and more extensive approach. Since post-mining is, by its very nature, as location-bound as mining before it, the economic and social weal and woe of its home regions is of fundamental significance for it. The urgency of these questions with respect to the Ruhr Valley and Saarland was underlined from the perspective, and as part of the commitment, of post-mining by the RAG Foundation’s study on the future in 2016; it spoke of a “fateful decade” for the Ruhr Valley in particular, in which the “turnaround” must be achieved in the course of the 2020s so that the region is not permanently left behind by overall economic development (18). The Ruhr Conference, which was explicitly launched by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia to align with the termination of coal mining in 2018, has taken an approach specifically aimed at setting this turnaround into motion. The conference has initiated 73 individual projects in five defined fields of action that also offer a whole series of starting points for the work of the research division such as the Ruhr Academy Smart Transformation (19). The Initiativkreis Ruhr 2020 has also drafted some stimulating ideas that are more densely defined for the leap into a successful future for the region (20) that should and must be discussed further – which the research division also regards to be one of its tasks. The RVR’s practical experience with structural change in the Ruhr Valley has demonstrated, however, that this requires stamina and that there are no patent remedies (Figure 5). In many cases, it will hardly be possible to recycle the material legacies of a closed coal and steel industry into marketable products of a comparable magnitude that are part of a vital community life in less than 15 to 30 years, even though there are exceptions to this rule here and there.
Fig. 5. Representation of practical experience with structural change in the Ruhr Valley. // Bild 5. Blick auf die Praxiserfahrungen mit dem Strukturwandel im Ruhrgebiet. Source/Quelle: RVR
The great potential for the future of the Ruhr Metropolis that is still waiting to be tapped or evolved is demonstrated as well by a study that was conducted by RUFIS and IW Consult at the behest of the RVR and published in the spring of 2020; its results give reason to hope. In addition to a detailed SWOT analysis of the economy, science and quality of life, the study contains a comprehensive inventory of the region’s enormously diverse and vital science landscape (21). Not only does it also list various research activities of the THGA, but it also specifically mentions the FZN as an institute that in this form is “unique in the world” in the section with the special heading “Highlights in Greentech – Waste Management and Environmental Protection”. It goes on to say that “innovative answers are sought here to questions that arise in dealing with mine water and mine gas, the reactivation and follow-up use of closed mines and the effects of mining on the surface”. (22) The latter topic is, in a broader socio-economic sense relating to this context, the specific mission and aspiration of the research division Reactivation and Transition and seen as a constructive contribution to ensuring that mining regions also “have a future” even after mining.
References/Quellenverzeichnis
References/Quellenverzeichnis
(1) A general overview of the work of the Research Center of Post-Mining and its various research divisions can be found at https://fzn.thga.de/ and in the FZN brochure “Damit Bergbauregionen Zukunft haben” – “For the Future of Mining Regions”, Bochum 2020.
Ein genereller Überblick zur Arbeit des Forschungszentrums Nachbergbau und seiner verschiedenen Forschungs-bereiche findet sich unter: https://fzn.thga.de/ sowie in der FZN-Broschüre „Damit Bergbauregionen Zukunft haben“ – „For the future of mining regions“, Bochum 2020.
(2) For an example of the experience from the regional development of the Ruhr Valley, cf. Brüggemann, J.; Kasperidus, L.; Möllerherm, S.: Postmontane Regionalentwicklung Ruhr. In: Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, Forschungszentrum Nachbergbau; Deutscher Markscheider-Verein (Ed.): Tagungsband Bergbau, Energie und Rohstoffe 2019. Übergang zu neuen Zeiten, Bochum 2019, pp. 270 – 278.
Beispielhaft zu den Erfahrungen aus der Regional-entwicklung des Ruhrreviers siehe Brüggemann, J.; Kasperidus, L.; Möller-herm, S.: Postmontane Regionalentwicklung Ruhr. In: Technische Hochschule Georg Agricola, Forschungszentrum Nachbergbau; Deutscher Markscheider-Verein (Hrsg.): Tagungsband Bergbau, Energie und Rohstoffe 2019. Übergang zu neuen Zeiten, Bochum 2019, S. 270 – 278.
(3) Cf. Kretschmann, J.: Research Areas in Post-Mining. In: Mining Report Glückauf 156 (2020), Issue 2, pp. 146 – 156, here: p. 152.
Siehe Kretschmann, J.: Forschungsbereiche im Nachbergbau.
In: Mining Report Glückauf 156 (2020), Heft 2, S. 146 – 156,
hier S. 152.
(4) Ibid. // Ebenda
(5) Ibid. // Ebenda
(6) Ibid, p.153. // Ebenda S.153.
(7) Cf. ibid. pp. 153–154. // Vgl. ebenda S. 153f.
(8) For more detailed information on these interrelationships and a critical look at the energy and regional economic consequences of the coal exit, cf. van de Loo, K.: The Coal Exit – a High-Risk Adventure for the Energy Sector and Regional Economy. In: Mining Report Glückauf 155 (2019), Issue 2, pp. 178 – 193, and van de Loo, K.: The Energy and Regional Economic Consequences of the “Coal Commission”. In: Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen, Vol. 68 (2018), Issue 10, pp. 10 – 13.
Ausführlicher zu diesen Zusammenhängen und mit einem kritischen Blick auf die energie- und regionalökonomischen Konsequenzen des Kohleausstiegs siehe van de Loo, K.: Der Kohleausstieg – ein energie- und regionalwirtschaftliches Abenteuer. In: Mining Report Glückauf 155 (2019), Heft 2, S. 178 – 193, sowie van de Loo, K.: Die energie- und regional-ökonomischen Konsequenzen der „Kohlekommission“. In: Energiewirtschaftliche Tagesfragen 68. Jg. (2018) Heft 10, S. 10 – 13.
(9) Van de Loo, K.; Tiganj, J.: Employment Stimulus for Post-Coal Mining Regions. In: Mining Report Glückauf 157 (2021), Issue 1, pp. 22 – 40.
Van de Loo, K.; Tiganj, J.: Beschäftigungsimpulse für (Kohle)Nachbergbauregionen. In: Mining Report Glückauf 157 (2021), Heft 1, S. 22 – 40.
(10) https://www.sgi-network.org/2020/
(11) Cf. van de Loo, K.: Social Engineering for Coal Mine Closures – a World Bank Report, the International Research Deficit and Reflections from a German Perspective. In: Mining Report Glückauf 155 (2019), Issue 4, pp. 394 – 412; specifically on developments in the world’s largest (coal) mining and at the same time post-mining country, cf. Tiganj, J.; Kretschmann, J.; Rudolph, T.; van de Loo, K.: German Post-Mining as a Role Model for Developments in China. In: Mining Report Glückauf 157 (2021), Issue 1, pp. 41 – 49.
Siehe dazu van de Loo, K.: Das „Social Engineering“ der Stilllegungen von Kohlebergwerken – Weltbankreport, internationale Forschungslücken und Reflexionen aus deutscher Sicht. In: Mining Report Glückauf 155 (2019), Heft 4, S. 394 – 412; speziell zu den Entwicklungen im weltweit größten (Kohle-)Bergbau- und zugleich Nachbergbauland siehe Tiganj, J.; Kretschmann, J.; Rudolph, T.; van de Loo, K.: Deutscher Nachbergbau als Vorbild für Entwicklungen in China. In: Mining Report Glückauf 157 (2021), Heft 1, S. 41 – 49
(12) Ministry for Home Affairs, Municipal Affairs, Building and Equality NRW: Bericht zur Stadtentwicklung 2017, Stadtentwicklung in der Region – Interkommunales Handeln (2017). // Ministerium für Heimat, Kommunales, Bau und Gleichstellung NRW: Bericht zur Stadtentwicklung 2017, Stadtentwicklung in der Region – Interkommunales Handeln (2017)
(13) For an overview, see // Für einen Überblick siehe https://www.rvr.ruhr/politik-regionalverband/europa/bergbauflaechen/die-bergbauflaechenvereinbarung/
(14) Cf. // Siehe Wandel als Chance: http://www.konzept-ruhr.de/fileadmin/user_upload/metropoleruhr.de/Wandel_als_Chance/Wandel_als_Chance_-_Positionspapier_2008.pdf
(15) For an overview, see // Für einen Überblick siehe https://ec.europa.eu/energy/topics/oil-gas-and-coal/EU-coal-regions/events-and-news_en#news-and-newsletters
(16) This applies to the future ancillary research for the new EU “Just Transition Mechanism”, but also, e. g., to the coal-related part of the research programmes of the European Coal and Steel Research Fund (RFCS), which will focus on green transformation and post-mining from 2020 onwards, cf. // Das gilt für die künftige Begleitforschung zum neuen EU-Just Transition Mechanism, aber z. B. auch für den kohlebezogenen, ab 2020 auf grünen Wandel und Nachbergbau ausgerichteten Teil der Forschungsprogramme des Europäischen Kohle- und Stahlforschungsfonds (RFCS), siehe dazu https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/research_and_innovation/contact/documents/rfcs_information_package_-_2020_call_-_rfcs_website_12062020.pdf
(17) For these interrelationships, cf. van de Loo, K.: New National Raw Materials Strategy: No Sustainability without Inclusion of Post-Mining. In: Mining Report Glückauf 156 (2020), Issue 2, pp. 158 – 171. // Zu diesen Zusammenhängen siehe van de Loo, K.: Neue nationale Rohstoffstrategie: Keine Nachhaltigkeit ohne Einbeziehung des Nachbergbaus. In: Mining Report Glückauf 156 (2020), Heft 2, S. 158 – 171
(18) https://www.rag-stiftung.de/publikationen/zukunftsstudie
(19) Cf. // Siehe www.ruhr-conference.nrw
(20) Position paper of the Initiativkreis Ruhr // Positionspapier des Initiativkreis Ruhr: Chancenregion Ruhr – Impulse für den Sprung in eine erfolgreiche Zukunft, Essen June 2020.
(21) Available at // Abrufbar etwa unter https://rufis.de/studie-auf-dem-weg-zu-einer-starken-region-zukunftspotenziale-der-metropole-ruhr-vorgestellt/
(22) Ibid, p. 116. // Ebenda S. 116