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Patryk Bialas
"Start with a very small step, and a big change will appear. What is very important: Strong leadership and a perfect timing."
SolutionsCLIMATE REALITY LEADER Trained: Miami, 2015
Patryk Bialas
Some people talk about just transition. Clean energy leader and Katowice City Councilor Patryk Bialas wrote the book on it – literally and figuratively, pushing his home city in the heart of Poland’s coal country to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance and creating a model for other cities to follow.
You've been an activist for a long time, over a decade now. What brought you to climate?
Maybe it sounds funny, but frustration. It was a hard time for me in my professional job. I decided, after 15 years of hard professional work to focus my energy into civil society activism.
There was an announcement appeared on Facebook on one of a very local civil society organization: “Are you aware on climate? Are you interested to be a part of clean air campaign in Katowice?”
I was lawyer, with a master of law degree from the University of Silesia in Katowice. But I started collecting signatures as a civil society initiative [for] a clean air act regulation proposal.
Voting on the city council was in June. You know, in Poland there is no air pollution at that time of the year. People think more about, you know, beach, mountains, instead of air pollution. we lost. The majority in the city council was against new regulations on clean air actions.
But after this first failure, we decided to educate more citizens to build bottom up pressure on decision.makers. And so we started an education campaign.
The funny story was that at the end of 2016, we had a big smog episode in Poland and clean air activists became immediate public stars.
We were invited by media to provide interviews. It was a big explosion of interest in the public debate on air quality. The reality was that for the first time, the smog came to Warsaw, the capital city of Poland. And, so it was a big change.
In April 2017, the regional Silesia Clean Air Act came into effect. It was a big success for us, for civil society. We went from asking for meetings to being invited to city council meetings to give presentations on air quality. Meetings, local festivals to provide lectures, speeches, talks on climate. And in 2017 we created our own association (ed: BoMiasto).
And 2018 appeared. An idea came into my mind that air quality is a part of a climate.
And it was, I think, February or beginning of March 2018, an invitation from the European branch manager [of The] Climate Reality Project appeared.
We started the collaboration on the Climate Speakers Network. The idea was to create a network of people acting on environment, ecology, climate, air pollution and train them. Provide them a new know-how, skills, tools, network them, help them to exchange the experience.How did you come to train as a Climate Reality Leader? How did that shape your work?
How did you come to train as a Climate Reality Leader? How did that shape your work?
In June 2018, I was invited to the Climate Reality Berlin training. My job was as a part of Climate Speakers Network to invite over 10 people from Katowice to Berlin for the training.
Meeting Mr. Al Gore, getting the Green Ring from his hands. Leading a workshop on clean air campaigning. It was a big honor for me, and, frankly speaking, a big support. Because back after the training, I was strong enough to start the change.
November 2018, I was elected as a member of city council. And December 2018 was COP 24.
In January 2019, with a group of colleagues, we decided to create [the] Silesia climate movement.
As the capital city of a region with a long history with coal, Katowice surprised a lot of people when it joined the Powering Past Coal Alliance last year. How did that happen and what did it mean for the city?
This is a process.
2016: the first speech of mine [to] the city council in terms of clean air act. It was a failure. We lost the voting.
2017: Successful advocating for regional clean air act.
2018: I was elected as a non-partisan candidate. My private opinion: My election success was a message coming from the citizens to the government – We need more ambition on climate. Because from the very beginning I was on the climate side.
2018: Also very important. COP 24 in Katowice. You know, it sounds funny: Climate conference in the capital city of the biggest coal region in Europe. If you can imagine, the stand of Katowice in the climate conference was full of coal. Gifts coming to the participants. You know, a soap made of coal, jewelry made of coal.
2023: My election for the second term. And elected as a chair for [the] climate commission. [In} 2023, we closed the coal commission [and] created the new climate and environment commission in the city council. It was a very important step.
Because my role in the city council changed, I got extra access to the city decision makers. So I could start not only controlling the legislation, the regulations. I started proposing new policy, and so on.
So that's why January 2024, , signed a memorandum joining the Powering Past Coal Alliance.
Of course, it was a few months of negotiations, meeting with ambassadors of UK and Canada. The next step was that I proposed an initiative coming from the climate commission with annual directions for Katowice local policy in terms of renewables.
And it was a perfect timing. Because there was [significant] European money dedicated for energy transition from black to green. And my proposal was a legal framework how to use this European money to foster the energy transition of Katowice. So, end of April 2026 we implemented in Katowice a low-emission zone. A big change in Katowice.
Remember, 2016, we failed the voting on the city council. 2026, we created as a city council [a] low-emission zone [for] the energy transition in transportation. So this is a big change and a big proof.
So my message is step-by-step. Start with a very small step, and a big change will appear. What is very important: Strong leadership and a perfect timing.
What’s next for you?
I would like to create in the coming months new legislation for green buildings in Katowice. A kind of legal standard for new public investments in housing in line with green building standards.
Now the time is for that. In the coming years, 2035, in my opinion, the last coal mine in Katowice will be closed. Of course, not because of me. Because of economics, frankly speaking. But in my opinion, the future is 100% renewables in electricity and heating systems.
So I'm very optimistic in terms of future for Katowice. So green buildings, 100% of renewables, a big change in the transportation. I'm quite optimistic. It will happen. And in terms of politics, green mayor. Green mayor in 2035 or even earlier.
And green majority in the city council is possible.
You’ve been in this space for over a decade now. What gets you out of bed in the morning and keeps you going?
Watching Mr. Al Gore. Coming from his book and from the first Truth in 10, “When somebody says, ‘My vote doesn’t count.’ Please send him to me. I will explain it.”
My first motivation was frustration in my professional job, but I realized very soon, what can I do for the best future of my children? I’m not expert in a space science. I’m not an engineer. I’m a lawyer. I’m working on renewables.
From the very beginning, the clean air campaign and climate campaign and just transition campaign was about the future of my children.
We need to do the transition in a just way. I mean, fair to local communities. Fair to local economy. Fair to [the] local environment. So this is my motivation when it’s really bad [and] I’m really tired.
In 2024, I published a book, “The Origins of Future” with individual stories of people in the process of just transition of Upper Silesia. Two days ago, a senator from my region was presenting this book in the Polish Senate in a public speech, “Guys, I recommend you read the book, written by the city councilor in Katowice, Patryk Bialas. There is a large number of interviews and stories [on] how to do a just transition.”
That senate debate ended up being so important because the president of Poland decided to run a referendum to blame the European Union for the economic and social impacts of energy transition.
This is a kind of symbol for me: Step-by-step. Do your job the best as you can, and the success will appear sooner than later.
What would you say to someone who looks at what’s happening to the world, to our climate, and says, “There’s nothing I can do?”
What I have learned is you don’t need to be an expert on climate. Climate Reality, Truth in 10 provides you enough data to act. Provides you a source so you can very easily use the Climate Reality know-how [and] become an expert.
And the most important – this is the last slide of my Truth in 10 presentation – act as if the world depends on you. Because the world depends on you. You need to be sure on that.