The Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development Strategy (EDUSI) is a local, urban policy instrument aligned with EU policies on sustainable urban development and linked to all POs of the Cohesion Policy (with a particular emphasis on PO2 and PO5).

More specifically, EDUSI is a strategic plan of the municipality of Mieres. It was created to identify and study the most pressing urban problems and challenges to tackle them in an integrated way that brings together public authorities, citizens, and relevant stakeholders. The plan's primary goals are equality, accessibility, sustainability, stopping demographic decline, mitigation of climate change and adaptation to it – which closely aligns with the economic, demographic, and identity challenges outlined above. Within the EDUSI plan, seven lines of action are defined:
(1) Dynamic and structured city
(2) Sustainable mobility
(3) Socially integrated city
(4) Landscape and environment improvement
(5) Smart city
(6) Public participation
(7) Public management

The plan is an overall framework to design concrete projects directly financed by the municipality or presented within European and/or national calls. Originally designed with the Horizon 2020 programme, EDUSI has been extended until at least 2024 (to be further expanded via the revision planned in EUMINDA).

The EDUSI of Mieres has been used fruitfully since 2014.

Within the Dutch context, affected citizens with MDLs can apply to the Mining Damage Commission (MDC). The MDC investigates the damage and gives an opinion on whether the damage was caused by mining. If the damage was caused by mining, then the aggrieved citizen is compensated by the mining companies. Unfortunately, this is not a feasible instrument for residents of South Limburg as the legal successors of the former mining companies deny liability and/or invoke the statute of limitations on the claim. Thus, there is only one route to compensation in Limburg for the most severe (uninhabitable) cases: Foundation Calamity Fund and its protocol, established in 2015 by the government.

However, recently, the government has agreed to establish a specific Limburg protocol for damage compensation for the substantial cases of lesser damage and a special Limburg division of the MDC to address requests from regional authorities for a more regionally focused MDL policy. This policy instrument targeted by OU extends and replaces the previous scheme for very serious to less severe cases of mining damage and ensures that the Ministry will cover the costs, regardless of whether they recover these costs from the (legal successors of) former mining companies.

Ultimately, this policy restores regional authorities to control mining reparations and reduces the legal burden on residents who are already struggling with the socio-economic fallout of mine closures.

The “Regional Innovation Strategy of the Silesian Voivodeship 2030” (RIS) is an intelligent transformation strategy that integrates the inner potential in innovation policy, gives direction to development, and indicates crucial and competitive areas of interest. The main goal of RIS is innovative and intelligent economic transformation, ensuring the region's competitive advantage in the international sphere and supporting activities under the smart specialisations, specifically the green economy and energetics specialisations.

As an added value to EUMINDA, the European Funds for Silesia 2021-2027 (FESL) will also be affected as a synergetic policy instrument. These two policies must work in parallel to repair the long-term damages and legacies of the region’s coal mining heritage. These changes allow for comprehensive projects in infrastructural investments, human capital support activities, and projects aimed at Silesia's economic and social transformation. More specifically, RIS will be used as critical criteria when orienting development ambitions for the region’s digital transition and selecting projects in the revised FESL framework. Both FESL and RIS are priority areas for Silesia, pivotal for transforming a region with heavy industry traditions into an area of modern economy based on knowledge and innovations.

The Directorate for Mineral Resources within the Ministry of Economy, Entrepreneurship and Tourism of Romania (ROMECO) implements the policy instrument that started in close cooperation with and under the supervision of the World Bank. This collaboration set the foundation for subsequent activities carried out by ROMECO. The work began with coal mines in one of Romania's two major coal mining areas and extended to other sites.

The conservation activity regulated by the policy instrument includes the following activities:
# Inspecting tailings ponds and tailings dumps to identify issues concerning potential instability, exfiltration, and leakage.
# Securing technical and technological annexes until they are handed over to the construction companies commissioned to execute the closure works.
# Ensuring the physical protection of nuclear installations for radioactive nuclear perimeters.
# Maintenance of essential services such as mine water evacuation and treatment, ventilation, access to the main works, service facilities such as vertical transport, electricity supply, etc.

The second component of the Annual Programme is the execution of mine closures and ecological reconstruction of mining sites. The third component is post-closure monitoring.

The technical implementation of the programme is assigned to the Mine Conservation and Closure Company under the authority of ROMECO.

Today, almost 250 mining sites are still in conservation and are due for closure and remediation.

The Just Transition Development Programme (JTDP) 2021-2027 is co-financed by the ERDF (Investment for Jobs & Growth goal), ESF+, and the EU Just Transition Fund, and it is implemented in the context of the Cohesion Policy. The Programme serves just transition, supporting regions affected by the transition's social, economic, and environmental impacts towards the Union's 2030 energy and climate goals. JTDP focuses on regenerating local economies, supporting investments contributing to their diversification and modernisation, and promoting employment by creating new jobs. The main pillars of JTDP are:
# Rehabilitation & reuse of degraded areas-facilities
# Social cohesion & economic transformation (transition to a new production model)
# Governance

The priorities and the indicative actions of the JTDP are:
# Strengthening & promoting entrepreneurship, strengthening the competitiveness of businesses, interconnecting entrepreneurship with research and innovation, and promoting digital transformation.
# Energy transition, improving energy efficiency in affordable clean energy systems and infrastructure.
# Land use readjustment, rehabilitation and reuse of lignite soils, green infrastructure, and technical land use readjustment projects.
# Fair labour transition, upgrading skills and actions to facilitate integration into the labour market.

SECAP is a local policy of the Statutory City of Kladno (KLADNO), aligned with the European Green Deal and linked to PO2 of the Cohesion Policy.

More specifically, SECAP proposes how the city should develop in the energy field and what goals it needs to meet to reach the EU’s climate goals. It contains concrete tasks in the energy, climate, transport, housing, waste and water management, and public lighting sectors and uses an integrated, cross-sectoral approach to harmonise them. Within the mining context, SECAP plans to use the post-mining areas for several purposes, i.e. using the mine water for energy, creating a Positive Energy District and/ or constructing a power plant for clean energy production, and revitalising the land.

KLADNO’S SECAP is based on the Baseline Emissions Inventory, which includes a comprehensive energy review. The Action Plan captures emissions from all fuel and energy consumption, electricity transmission and distribution in the city, and heat from CHP sources. The SECAP defines estimated energy savings/increase in renewable energy production and estimated CO2 emission reductions for each measure.

North Karelia’s current regional strategy (POKAT 2025) is focused on sustainably growing via improved effectiveness while smartly shrinking by downsizing the economy’s ecological footprint. Its three pillars are smart specialisation, climate orientation, and lifelong participation. POKAT steers the region's development, serves national-level regional development policies, and converts longer-term regional targets (for 2040) into concrete actions for 4-year periods (with the current POKAT soon to be updated and translated into the next edition for the years 2026-29).

As one of the focus areas, the extractive industry has its own development chapter and implementation plan within POKAT, as well as a designated group of experts from stakeholder organisations involved in planning and monitoring. Considering the sector's firmly networked and international character, national-level cooperation is essential, especially among other Eastern and Northern Finland regions. Global partnerships, European collaboration networks and financing instruments are also continuously harnessed to serve innovation, investments, and the use of the latest industry solutions.

Sectoral development goals of POKAT include:
# Supporting responsible mining investments
# Promoting clean mining solutions
# Increasing added value in mineral economy value chains
# Creating new expertise paths
# Focusing on responsibility, interaction, and public image
# Strengthening national and international networks

The targeted Strategy addresses the challenges posed by the decline of the extractive industry and aims to ensure sustainable community development, though only to a limited extent. It includes specific measures in four key areas:
(1) Economic - Offers incentives for investing in emerging industries like IT, manufacturing, and renewable energy and provides support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through loan and grant schemes;
(2) Social - Delivers targeted support to vulnerable populations, enhances access to healthcare, and includes training programs aligned with the skills needed for new industries;
(3) Infrastructural - Focuses on upgrading road infrastructure, introducing energy-efficient construction technologies, and renovating existing housing; and
(4) Environmental - Promotes solar, wind, and biogas energy investments, rehabilitates contaminated sites, and implements comprehensive waste management systems.

Despite these measures, the Strategy does not fully address the long-term natural, social, and legal consequences of mining activities, necessitating a revision. New challenges should also be included, including the need for inter-municipal cooperation in the Sheptytskyi coal mining microregion and the significant population loss due to recent migration diminishing the local labour force. Furthermore, adding specific programs to attract investors to new industries and to rehabilitate contaminated areas is essential for achieving meaningful results.