The Polish Canadian Chamber of Commerce was proud to be represented at the European Forum for a Just Transition (Europejskie Forum Sprawiedliwej Transformacji), held on 26–27 October in Bełchatów, Poland, by its President, Bernhard L. Otterstein.
President Otterstein participated as a panellist in the discussion “Transformation Around the World – What Can We Learn from Other Regions?”, where he shared international perspectives on managing economic and energy transitions. He underscored a fundamental principle of successful transition: alternative sources of baseload energy must be in place, or under active development, before traditional energy sources are phased out. Policy must take into account the health of the economy, employment, other key social factors, as well as national security, not only centrally-defined CO2 emissions reduction goals.
PCCC Patron Member company Candu was also represented at the Forum, by Jerry Piskorski, Director of New Build for Poland, who took part in the panel “Economic Transformation: From a Coal Region to New Industry”. CANDU is a proven Canadian heavy-water reactor technology and a highly efficient source of industrial-scale energy. It runs on natural, unenriched uranium and offers significant benefits to users, including superior cost-effectiveness, the highest possible degree of local content, energy sovereignty and Canadian Government financing assistance.
The discussions highlighted the challenges and opportunities of international cooperation, the importance of policy realism, and the value of best practices and cross-border partnerships in building a sustainable energy future.
For the PCCC, the Forum was also an opportunity to underline the significant potential of Polish-Canadian cooperation in strengthening energy security as part of a just transition, particularly through the deployment of clean energy technologies, including nuclear energy and offshore wind, along with the innovation and investment that accompany them.
We believe that bringing together Polish and Canadian technologies and expertise, natural resources, businesses and institutions can play a meaningful role in accelerating the transformation in a realistic way, while creating new opportunities for both countries.
