COP24, Day 1: The Polish Electricity Association on Just Transition for All and the plans for Silesia

Yesterday, the 24th Session of the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change commenced. The main topic of talks in the Polish Pavilion was the just energy transition. During the discussion, the experts presented their conclusions on, among others, significant differences between the electric power industries of the individual Member States of the European Union. Participants in the panel included Krzysztof Laskowski, expert of Eurelectric and Kazimierz Szynol, expert of the PKEE. in the Polish Pavilion was a fair energy transition. During the discussion, experts presented their conclusions on, among other things, important differences in the power industry between European Union countries. The panellists included Krzysztof Laskowski, Eurelectric expert and Kazimierz Szynol, PKEE expert.

During the first part of the talks, the expert from Eurelectric, Krzysztof Laskowski, presented his conclusions.

- The ability of the European electricity sector to decarbonise will to a large extent depend on the commercial availability of the key technologies allowing a cost-effective decarbonisation and on taking into account the different starting points of the Member States such as Poland with its 80% share of coal in the energy mix, which combined with one of the lower per capita GDPs in the EU (68% of the EU average) will require huge capital expenditures and public support will largely depend on the commercial availability of key technologies enabling cost-effective decarbonisation and taking into account the different starting points of Member States such as Poland with a 80% share of coal in the Polish energy mix, which, combined with one of the lowest levels of GDP per capita in the EU (68% of the EU average), will require huge investments and public support – said Krzysztof Laskowski. “The energy transition requires fair sharing of the cost of the ambitious EU climate policy between its Member States and creation of dedicated EU funds that will allow a just energy transition in countries such as Poland– added the expert.

During the second part of the meeting, the strongest emphasis was placed on the implementation of the declaration of Just Transition in Silesia. Here, an important statement was made by the second expert of the PKEE, Kazimierz Szynol, who often underlined his Silesian roots and excellent knowledge of both the local market and the people, including miners.

-Katowice is a model example of how a transformation policy, pursued consistently over many years, helps to create conditions for the development of innovative enterprises, new jobs and a higher level of development. However, transformation should be evolutionary rather than revolutionary – concluded Kazimierz Szynol.

In the evening, the stand of the PKEE was officially opened in the Polish Pavilion.