Tag:
CO2

Poland has started phasing out coal. But while production is decreasing, CO2 emission allowances are becoming increasingly expensive. After 2025, when public support for outdated coal blocks runs out, energy companies will want to shut them down. With a decade, at least 10 GW of power may be lost from the Polish power system. How can this gap be filled?

EU climate policy is accelerating again. The European Commission has just proposed raising the target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions until 2030 to 55%. Poland has always opposed ambitious goals, but now a breakthrough seems possible―the end of coal is inevitable, we must take care of energy security, after coronavirus we need new investments, and reducing CO2 emissions is associated with improving air quality, which the government defines as a strategic challenge. By taking these measures now, in heat, electricity and transport, emissions can be reduced by over 40%. The remaining cuts will come from the new policies on industry and agriculture and the sharing of efforts between Member States.

The future energy mix will be dominated by renewable energy sources (RES) with zero production costs, such as wind farms and photovoltaics. The abundance of cheap electricity will allow for the replacement of fossil fuels, both in heating and transport sectors. Effective integration of these sectors, within one energy system, will also help to solve the problem of weather-dependent RES production.

Heating and all of us in Poland have a problem. In domestic heating we rely on technologies from the 50s and 60s of the last century. In winter we have the worst quality air in the European Union. The society bears the enormous health costs related to air pollution - 120 billion PLN annually. We use primarily coal, which we are running out of, and we need to cover the costs of CO2 emission allowances. What next? Does coronavirus mean the end of dreams about clean air and the end of investments in modern technologies? Quite the opposite. Right now we should be looking at renewables.

"Energy Boost for Poland" - a package for the economy prepared by the Forum Energii and Polish Confederation Lewiatan. Forum Energii and the Confederation Lewiatan call for the adoption of the "Energy Boost for Poland" package, which aims to mobilise available public and private funds for the Polish energy modernization. The implementation of the "Energy Boost for Poland" will stimulate investments worth over PLN 580 billion, which will create 240 thousand new jobs. Investments in the energy sector should be an element of the strategy for overcoming the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.