@ARTICLE{Janikowska_Olga_Julita_Challenges_2023, author={Janikowska, Olga Julita}, volume={vol. 26}, number={No 4}, journal={Polityka Energetyczna - Energy Policy Journal}, pages={45-62}, howpublished={online}, year={2023}, publisher={Instytut Gospodarki Surowcami Mineralnymi i Energią PAN}, abstract={The Polish political transformation of 1989 brought significant changes not only on the political and social levels but also on the economic level. The Polish economy, which until then had been a centrally planned economy, had to be rapidly changed into a free market economy. As a result of this, a lot of areas of the economy had to be transformed including the mining industry, especially hard-coal mining. In 1990, there were seventy-one mines in operation in Poland, employing nearly 400,000 people. The process of decommissioning these mines, which continues to this day, began in 1994. Walbrzych coal mines were among the first to be liquidated. Poland has long been dependent on coal for energy production, but the country is facing increasing pressure in the transition to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources in order to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change in order to fulfil EU climate policy assumptions. Civil society organizations in Poland were associated with the political transformation, as the changes in the system has opened the doors for the social participation in decision-making processes. Civil society organizations in Poland have been actively pushing for policies and initiatives that promote renewable energy, energy efficiency, and the phasing out of coal. However, it should be underlined that the role of civil society in energy transformation is crucial as on the one hand, it should be an advocate of change, but on the other hand, civil society has to take an active part in the discussion on the challenges of the transformation, such a change in the employment structure which is an inevitable consequence of the energy transition. The scope of the paper is to provide a set of tools for the civil society participating in energy transformation processes.}, type={Article}, title={Challenges of the energy transition in Poland – deliberative democracy as a tool for activating the civil society}, URL={http://journals.pan.pl/Content/129830/PDF-MASTER/03-Janikowska.pdf}, keywords={restructuration, NGOs, civil society, energy transformation, renewable energy sector, political transformation}, }