1 Stakeholder involvement in Just Transition process: Myth or reality? Lefteris Topaloglou a [1] , Amalia Kouskoura a , Olga Janikowska b , Rumyana Grozeva c , Konstantinia Nikolaidou a , Ioannis Karagiannis a and Joanna Kulczycka d a University of Western Macedonia (UOWM), Active Urban Planning Zone (ZEP), 50100, Kozani, Greece b Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute (MEERI), Kraków, ul Wybickiego 7a, Poland c Stara Zagora Regional Economic Development Agency, (SZ REDA), 127 Stoletov str., 6000, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria d AGH Academy of Kraków, Faculty of Management, Kraków, Gramatyki 10, Poland ABSTRACT The diptych, just transition and stakeholders’ involvement, seems to be at the heart of the debate on climate change after the 2015 Paris Agreement in particular. Within this context, the EU Green Deal strategy has politically stated that the transition should embark all key actors and leave no one behind. Given that transition denotes a long-term and deep transformation in many socio- economic and environmental spheres, the role of stakeholders in such a multifaceted challenge, appears to be essential. To address this issue, the paper investigates the level of stakeholder engagement in three coal-intensive regions in the EU. To this end, the paper explores the risks that come to the fore of insufficient stakeholder involvement. Furthermore, it is examined to what extent Just Transition needs to be supported on a local level by place-based engagement governance mechanisms and new approaches such as deliberative democracy to achieve an active involvement of key stakeholders and make the transition pathway truly successful. The findings are based upon empirical research conducted in coal regions of Western Macedonia in Greece, Silesia in Poland and Stara Zagora in Bulgaria, within the context of the research project SITRANS (Life-2021-CET-Coal Regions, https://sitrans-project.eu/project/), attempting to shed some light on the aforementioned research questions. [1] Corresponding author. E-mail address: etopaloglou@uowm.gr This preprint research paper has not been peer reviewed. Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4510270 Preprint not peer reviewed