Designing decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry in Central and Eastern Europe

The document argues that Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries must implement coordinated national and regional strategies to decarbonise heavy industries like refining and ammonia production. It identifies four priority actions: cost-competitive policy design, targeted deployment in industrial clusters, shared financial risk schemes, and cross-border collaboration for infrastructure. The analysis highlights that CEE accounts for nearly 25% of EU hydrogen consumption, with Poland as the dominant user, and emphasizes that the lack of domestic regulatory frameworks for CO2 storage in Poland currently forces a reliance on more expensive export options.

• To accelerate industrial decarbonisation without losing competitiveness, policymakers and industry in Central and Eastern Europe should focus on four areas: designing cost-competitive policies with streamlined regulations, prioritising industrial clusters with high hydrogen or CCS potential, establishing sustainable funding to share financial risks, and cooperating internationally on cross-border infrastructure and R&D.
• Hydrogen consumption in the EU is overwhelmingly fossil-fuel based, with 99.7% of the 7.3 million tonnes consumed in 2023 being unabated. The CEE region represents nearly a quarter of this EU demand, totaling 1.6 million tonnes per year, with Poland accounting for 45% of the regional total, followed by Hungary (12%) and Slovakia (10%).
• Industrial hydrogen demand in CEE is heavily concentrated, with 90% coming from refining and ammonia production. Refining accounts for nearly half of regional consumption, while ammonia production represents approximately 42%, with Poland holding the largest ammonia production capacity in both CEE and the EU.
• The deployment of carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Poland is hindered by a lack of comprehensive legal frameworks for onshore storage and a lack of incentive mechanisms for early adopters. While domestic storage is cheaper than exporting CO2, the absence of regulations makes near-term export the only viable option for current projects.

APA

Rossi, C., Kupiec, B., Carr, A., & Lagurashvili, T. (2025). Designing decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Clean Air Task Force. https://www.catf.us/2025/05/designing-decarbonisation-pathways-heavy-industry-central-eastern-europe/

Chicago

Rossi, Codie, Bartlomiej Kupiec, Alex Carr, and Tamara Lagurashvili. Designing decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry in Central and Eastern Europe. Clean Air Task Force, 2025. https://www.catf.us/2025/05/designing-decarbonisation-pathways-heavy-industry-central-eastern-europe/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rossi |first1=Codie |last2=Kupiec |first2=Bartlomiej |last3=Carr |first3=Alex |last4=Lagurashvili |first4=Tamara |title=Designing decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry in Central and Eastern Europe |publisher=Clean Air Task Force |date=6 May 2025 |url=https://www.catf.us/2025/05/designing-decarbonisation-pathways-heavy-industry-central-eastern-europe/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rossi2025designing, author = {Rossi, Codie and Kupiec, Bartlomiej and Carr, Alex and Lagurashvili, Tamara}, title = {{Designing decarbonisation pathways for heavy industry in Central and Eastern Europe}}, institution = {Clean Air Task Force}, year = {2025}, month = may, url = {https://www.catf.us/2025/05/designing-decarbonisation-pathways-heavy-industry-central-eastern-europe/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }