European Union climate plan impact on Poland “overestimated”

Citation

(2009), "European Union climate plan impact on Poland “overestimated”", Management of Environmental Quality, Vol. 20 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/meq.2009.08320cab.001

European Union climate plan impact on Poland “overestimated”

Article Type: News From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 20, Issue 3

A non-governmental Polish research institute has heavily criticised a report warning that the proposed European Union (EU) climate and energy package will have a negative economic impact on Poland.

The report was published by the Polish electricity association and has underpinned the Polish government’s drive to water down plans to revise the EU emission trading scheme after 2012. Its authors warned of annual gross domestic product (GDP) losses of 0.6 per cent and electricity price rises of 60 per cent as a result of the plans. But in a new assessment of the report, researchers at the Gdansk institute for market economics say it is selective in its analysis and makes “substantial mistakes”. It wrongly assumes Poland’s 15 per cent renewable energy target for 2020 must be met entirely by the electricity sector and that energy efficiency is not an option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the institute says.

As a result, GDP losses and electricity price increases are “overestimated”, say the Gdansk researchers. Potential benefits for the economy are “disregarded”. They suggest Poland could avoid many negative impacts simply by improving its national implementation of the EU proposals. The report is available at: www.endseuropedaily.com/docs/81124a.pdf