coal

2016 will soon come to an end. It has not brought the long-awaited recovery to the Polish industries that rely on the production and combustion of coal. We can’t see the end of the crisis; instead, what we see is the reluctance of Polish politicians to embrace renewable sources of energy. Michał Olszewski takes a look.

Poland’s Plan for Responsible Development is supposed to help Poland escape economic stagnation. But the money recieved from the EU has mostly been spent on upgrading coal plants, and attempts at building renewable plants have fallen flat. Michał Olszewski takes a look.

As it is in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States, the coal industry in Poland is declining amid economic and environmental pressures. And the industry’s political and cultural importance is prompting calls for government action to save it.

A new law that took effect in Poland earlier this month could kill growing competition from land-based wind farms by expanding setback requirements tenfold and increasing tax burdens.

Despite an ongoing freeze on state policies to boost clean energy in Ohio, efforts to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy are underway in Cleveland and the rest of Cuyahoga County.

The president and the parliamentary majority have recently taken two decisions that will significantly influence the development of the renewable energy industry in Poland. Although at the outset these legal changes seemed promising, their consequences now appear bound to be negative. 

The Polish mining industry needs to be drip fed yet again. Over the past 25 years, the coal sector has been receiving numerous subsidies from the government, amounting to at least US$35 billion.

The Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło has announced a milestone on the path towards saving Poland’s mining industry: on May 1, a company called ‘The Polish Mining Group’ (PGG) was established. It will take over 11 coal mines, four bankruptcy-threatened plants and debts of mines and plants.