Polish Confederation Lewiatan together with Warsaw Institute for Economic Studies prepared a series of publication, the goal of which is to present proposals for the EU’s energy and climate policy that would be both realistic and advantageous for the Polish business.
Each of the publications touches on a different problem associated with the shape of EU’s 2030 energy and climate policies.
The Polish vetoes merely delayed the moment when EU’s new 2030 climate goals are adopted. The pressure from the key Western European states to reduce emissions will not weaken in the coming years. Those countries view ambitious climate policy as an incentive to develop the European industry and as a long-term answer to rising energy prices and worsening energy security of the Union.
At the same time, Poland’s energy potential is undergoing significant changes. The extent to which domestic coal reserves will be used in the coming decades has become a question mark, the prospects of developing domestic shale gas are still uncertain, costs of renewable are at the same time falling. Regardless of GHG abatement goals, Polish energy sector will experience a capital-intensive modernization. Its necessity stems from ageing of existing units as well as from EU’s environmental regulations not related to climate protection.
Instead of blocking energy and climate negotiations, Poland should thus focus on obtaining solutions most advantageous for the economy in the following key areas:
- Redistribution of climate policy related burdens among member states.
- Perfecting the mechanisms of protecting industry from carbon leakage.
- Mechanisms for supporting the transformation of Polish energy sector.
- Rules for dividing the abatement effort between ETS and non-ETS sectors.
Until today three publications were released:
Breaking the impasse – Poland and the EU climate policy – the analysis of past experiences regarding Poland’s negotiation strategy, conclusions for the future.
Support for low emission transformation of electricity generation and district heating – summary of possible instruments to support lowering emission intensity of Polish energy sector.
Intelligent industry protection for a successful low emission transformation in Europe – an analysis of necessary changes in instruments protecting European industry from carbon leakage.
Authors of the reports: Maciej Bukowski, Aleksander Śniegocki.
