President Karol Nawrocki announced submitting a fresh request to the legislature to hold a national referendum on EU climate policy. This is simply a consequence to the Senate's earlier rejection of the first motion, the content of which was considered by most senators to be besides suggestive. This time, the referendal question is to be formulated in a way which, according to the President's Chancellery, will not rise any formal objections.
The Green Deal referendum is getting closer. The president stresses that issues related to the European Green Deal and ETS emissions trading strategy affect the regular lives of millions of Poles through energy prices, heating costs, business functioning and economical competitiveness. In his view, decisions with specified far-reaching social and economical consequences should be given direct legitimacy to citizens.
Let us recall: the first referendum motion was rejected by the legislature by a majority. However, the representatives of the President's Chancellery announce that the fresh proposal will contain a revised question, lacking elements that could be considered an suggestive answer. If the legislature agrees, Poles will be able to talk straight for the first time about the further direction of the implementation of the EU climate policy in Poland.
The debate on the referendum focuses primarily on the costs of implementing EU climate regulation. In particular, the CO2 emissions trading strategy (EU ETS), which has been covering the energy sector and manufacture for respective years now, is to be extended in the coming years to fuel utilized in the transport and heating of buildings (ETS2).
According to data from the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the European Commission, since the start of the ETS system, Poland has contributed hundreds of billions of PLN from the sale of emanation allowances to the state budget. At the same time, the cost of purchasing allowances by national energy and manufacture has become 1 of the most crucial components of electricity prices. In 2017, a ton of CO2 emissions cost about EUR 5, while in the period 2023-2025 the price repeatedly exceeded EUR 70, periodically approaching even EUR 100 per tonne.
The effects of these changes are peculiarly powerfully felt by Poland, whose energy production is inactive mostly based on coal. It is estimated that the acquisition costs of emanation allowances presently account for respective twelve percent of the wholesale electricity price. As a result, the Polish energy-intensive manufacture – including steel, chemical, cement or paper manufacture – bears importantly higher operating costs than competitors outside the European Union that do not operate in akin emanation charging systems.
According to the analysis of the Energy Forum and the Polish Institute of Economics, the budget revenues from auctioning emanation allowances exceeded PLN 100 billion in fresh years, but a crucial part of these funds was allocated to current state spending alternatively of investments limiting the costs of energy transformation. In turn, energy manufacture experts indicate that the cost of ETS in energy bills for final consumers is already estimated at tens of billions of PLN per year, which translates into both higher prices for households and lower competitiveness of the Polish economy.
Extending the ETS2 strategy means that emissions charges will besides cover fuels utilized for home heating and road transport. The European Commission itself foresees that the fresh mechanics will make crucial social costs and that is why the Social Climate Fund was created in parallel. However, many economists point out that the compensatory measures envisaged will only cover part of the additional burden on citizens and businesses.
It is precisely the scale of the economical consequences of the Green Deal and the ETS that makes the subject of the referendum 1 of the most crucial political disputes of fresh months. The final decision to carry it out will belong to the Senate, however, the fact that the president re-submits the motion announces a further intensive debate on the direction of the Polish energy and climate policy.
We besides recommend: Embassy of Ukraine: evidence Poles
