On the Road to Tightened Energy Ties

Poland is one of the key nations participating in Europe’s attempts to curb global warming. Depending heavily on coal-produced electricity, Poland is faced with meeting its growing energy demands while also moving toward a more energy-efficient future. To accomplish this, Poland is looking at many sectors, mainly domestic and industrial, as well as transport and electricity generation. But the nation of the brothers Kaczynski needs to develop these narrow initiatives into full markets in order to attract long-term investors.

As a whole, European nations account for 14% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. The International Energy Agency has called for an integrated policymaking process that would consider the security of energy supply and the mitigation of climate change. The package sets thee major goals to be achieved by 2020: (1) the EU region must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20%; however, this is an elastic target—for example, Italy could cut emissions by 15% if Denmark aims for a 25% cut; (2) the countries will be expected to collaborate on both the international and the regional levels in order to trigger competitiveness and open an internal market subject to growing investments; and (3) 20% of the overall share of energy should be renewable.

According to Jørgen Henningsen at the European Policy Centre, the current energy package is still hovering between hopeful ambition and economic pragmatism. “It would have been better if the domestic sector had been targeted in place of talking about binding reductions”, says Mr Henningsen. “The decision of the EU is hanging in the air. There is no clear binding agreement because no decision was made about which Member State has to reduce what.”

For Poland to cooperate in these initiatives, dramatic changes in energy policy will be required. One of the greatest challenges will be shifting the reliance away from coal. On May 11, the WWF released its annual report, announcing the “Dirty Thirty”, a compilation of Europe’s dirtiest power stations, according to their carbon dioxide emissions. Poland – along with Germany, Greece, the Czech Republic and Spain – was among the greatest offenders. All of these plants rely on brown coal, or lignite, to produce electricity.

It will not be easy to move away from coal. The International Energy Agency has found that 60% of energy in Poland derives from coal. The first step will be to increase efficiency. “There has been quite an important effort to stop wasting like we used to during the communist era”, states Boguslaw Sonik, Polish Member of the European Parliament. Like other ex-Soviet countries, Poland has worked hard in the past fifteen years to reach the goals set by the EU, acknowledges Mr Sonik. Poland is also directing state funding to the development of hydroelectric plants and production of colza, a sustainable biofuel.

But more efforts are needed in the near future. To meet with the new exigencies of the energy package, Poland has been increasingly considering nuclear power as a necessary alternative to coal. Plants powered by nuclear energy, although more expensive, are totally emission-free. To secure its energy supplies, Poland has recently developed partnerships with other countries, such as the co-financing of a nuclear power plant that will be situated in Lithuania. The Baltic country gets 80% of its electricity from nuclear.
Even though the memories of Chernobyl are still fresh in people’s minds, popular opinion is growing in favour of a return to the old solution. “I am a real advocate of nuclear”, says Mr. Sonik. “I think it is a solution to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.”

Another possible solution in Poland’s effort to transition away from coal is to import a greater amount of energy. This has been an increasingly viable method across Europe, where dependency on foreign energy is growing fast. Such reliance comes with a price. Oil imports from the Middle East carry the potential of involving Europe further in a highly unstable region. And since the crisis of January 2006, when Russia cut off gas supply to Ukraine, the EU is wary of dependency on Russian oil. The EU is thus tightening its economic ties with Turkey and the Caucasus countries, bordering the resource-rich Caspian Sea. Romania and Bulgaria, 5-month-old Members, allowed the EU to reach the Black Sea. As the traffic of huge boats carrying oil and gas tankers intensifies, the sea deserves its name more than ever.

According to a report released by the Committee of the Regions, “local and regional authorities have a particularly important role to play in energy efficiency measures”, more specifically in the area of renewable energies. In Poland, cultivating colza would not be profitable without the support of national funding. Furthermore, “the demonstration of new technologies at regional and local levels has a particular contribution to make in raising public awareness”. Undoubtedly, if the EU looks outward for future relations, it looks at the same time inwards for further solid integration. The Member States need to maintain the level of ambition of the Spring summit. If the energy package offers a new chance for the EU to act as a role model on an international level. If the energy package offers a new chance for the EU to act as a role model on an international level, the main actors remain the European regions, with Poland playing a crucial role.

Picture: © Benjamin Heine, 2006