The Polish government does not agree with the new reform of the CO2 emission allowances system. This position is motivated by a desire to maintain the status quo within the coal industry and serves to help realize domestic political goals. Michał Olszewski explains.

On February 28th, environment ministers chose to adopt a common position on the reform of CO2 emission allowances. Immediately after, the Polish minister Prof. Jan Szyszko filed a complaint with the European Court of Justice. Let us remember that under this new agreement, the CO2 emission allowance will fall annually by 2.2% from 2021. A number of the European Union’s member states suggested more decisive action. The Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) also called for faster action. What prevailed, however, was the stance that the so-called allowances removal index should remain at the level set back in 2014.

This, though, is too much for Poland. The Law and Justice government would gladly remove the emission limits altogether, judging them to have nothing to do with climate policy and believing them to be only a tool in the brutal political fight between nations that do not base their energy systems on coal and those for whom it is the most important part of their energy mix. Such a radical stance would turn the foundations of the EU environmental policy on its head. At least for now, it has been met with no enthusiasm on the part of the majority of EU member states.

It’s hardly a secret that speeding up progress towards realizing environmental goals doesn’t suit Poland at the moment. There’s fierce in-fighting within domestic politics over each and every tonne of coal extracted – before the last elections, the Law and Justice party made a pledge to miners that not a single mine would be closed.

This pledge was taken very seriously, and because the situation in the mining industry is still very difficult, politicians are making desperate attempts at various levels to maintain the status quo. For example, shortly before the vote in Brussels, the long-awaited draft regulation from the Ministry of Energy on standards for solid fuels was revealed. This was an alleged response to the poor quality of air, which stifles Polish towns and villages during each heating period. Why “alleged”? The regulation attempts to square a circle by combatting smog while protecting the interests of the mining industry. In practice, this means allowing the sale of coal with 1.3% sulfur content to households. According to experts from the Polish Environmental Chamber (Polska Izba Ekologii), sulfur content should not exceed 1%, and it would be best if it were below 0.6%. The Ministry also wants to allow for the use of coal with high ash content (of up to 12%) even though experts say it should not exceed 8%.

This is one example that reveals a wider trend: coal still remains in the Polish national interest. This has not been changed by the colossal amounts of EU money spent on the modernization of the energy sector, as it was mostly spent on refurbishing coal-fired power plants. The law on RES, which has taken years to adopt, has been amended by the Law and Justice government in such a way that financially viable energy production in micro installations has been made impossible. One question remains: will Poland comply with its commitments on renewables? The rate of growth in the amount of equipment used for renewable energy production has fallen, larger investors are withdrawing, and politicians are seeking to cover their backs with the facilitation of biomass combustion (not for the first time).

The case at the European Court of Justice is therefore likely to take place. The ever smaller number of emission allowances and the doubling of “backloading” are a real problem for Poland. As is the answer to the question of what we have done since 2004 to prepare ourselves for these problems.