Adam Guibourge-Czetwertyński, Poland’s Vice-Minister of Climate, emphasised that in the opinion of Poland the projects presented by the European Commission, with regards to the Fit for 55 package, the Forestry Strategy, COP26 and energy prices in Europe are non-compliant with the conclusions of the European Council of December 2020.
“The key issue is the European Commission’s obligation to solve the problem of imbalance between the number of emission allowances granted to the beneficiary States of the Modernisation Fund, the installations in their territories and the actual emissions from these States,” said the Vice-Minister speaking at the Environmental Council (ENVI) that took place in Luxembourg.
“The problem includes insufficient revenues that cannot balance the costs of transformation incurred by the individual member States and the installations covered with EU ETS,” he noted.
According to him, the Commission’s proposals give particular consideration to the ambitions and the need to reduce emissions in all sectors and focus less on the support mechanisms which would implement these ambitions. In December 2020, the European Council was aware of the problem of imbalances for beneficiaries of the Modernisation Fund which were not receiving revenues equivalent to the costs paid by the ETS installations and it concluded that the issue would be addressed as part of the upcoming legislation.
“Poland is sceptical about implementing the ETS in road transport and buildings,” Mr Guibourge-Czetwertyński added. “Apart from fundamental objections related to the effectiveness of the implementation of this solution, we are highly concerned about its social costs.”
Additionally, the Enviornmental Council also adopted the conclusions establishing the common position of the European Union for the upcoming climate conference COP26 in Glasgow. During the debates, Vice-Minister Guibourge-Czetwertyński pointed out that the EU should take the position which will contribute to finding a global consensus, among others on common time framework necessary to elaborate the future perspective for climate objectives beyond 2030.
“If we really care of agreeing on the decision concerning the common time framework in Glasgow, we should examine the positions of all Parties and propose a compromise solution, which will build the bridges instead of widening the gaps,” he said.
The Vice-Minister noted also that the EU climate policy objectives laid down in the European climate law, are not only legally binding and most ambitious in the world, but also associated with regular review of global ambitions under the Paris Agreement, which should be followed by all Parties.
