Sustainable Social and Environmental Evaluation of Post-Industrial Facilities in a Closed Loop Perspective in Coal-Mining Areas in Poland

Abstract

The article discusses issues related to the circular economy ideas applied to post-industrial facilities and infrastructure in Polish coal-mining areas. The aim of the article is to indicate directions for sustainability-oriented actions on reusing the remnants of closed mining plants and reshaping the areas which will be transformed under the just transition principles. For this purpose, the article reviews the terminology related to inventories of such facilities and their classification, and also indicates some locations of such facilities. The authors discuss the problem of legal regulations related to the process of closing a mining plant in Poland and also to EU guidelines on the allocation of financial resources from the Just Transition Fund (addressing the EU coal industry, climate change and the potential for clean energy solutions). This research aims at reviewing current research on the above aspects and at raising the problem of managing post-industrial facilities in light of their discontinued function due to mine closure. The article offers a preliminary diagnosis of the scale of research required to investigate the above problems in the view of the expected coal-exit in the Polish economy.