ABSTRACT
Introduction With regard to its attitude to (and implementation of ) climate change policy measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) at the domestic, EU and international level, Poland has mostly played the role of either policy taker, policy shaper or veto player. This chapter deals with the complex relationship between Poland, the EU and the international community in the field of climate and energy policy. It argues that the most relevant factors for explaining the Polish role in EU and international climate change politics are the importance of the energy sector for Poland’s emissions profile and the dominance of coal in Poland’s energy mix to such an extent that it is an outlier both in Europe and globally (World Bank 2015: 33). Hard coal and lignite constitute 57 per cent of gross inland energy consumption (World Bank 2015: 33) and almost 90 per cent of electricity consumption. The combustion of fossil fuels causes over 75 per cent of GHGE (Szewrański 2012: 10). Overall Poland’s share in GHGE is low and amounts to only 1 per cent (World Bank 2015: 30). However, the share in the total EU GHGE amounts to 8 per cent (Szewrański 2012: 10). Moreover, Poland’s economy remains among the least carbon-efficient in the EU and its energy intensity is almost twice as high as the EU (World Bank 2015: 30; Szewrański 2012: 1). Another explanatory factor is the centralized energy sector structure with the Polish government owning the majority in the biggest energy and fossil fuels companies such as the Polish Energy Group (Polska Grupa Energetyczna – PGE) and Lotos Group.
