Law and ambition in Poland’s energy transition

The report describes Poland as an EU laggard in energy transition due to an unprecedented dependency on coal and a lack of up-to-date energy strategy. While the power sector is starting to diversify through new RES auctions and gas-fired installations, the report highlights significant challenges, including the '10H rule' blocking onshore wind and a history of poor EU law transposition. It argues that the EU Clean Energy Package and rising carbon costs are key drivers that could accelerate the transition if supported by a stable national legal framework.

• Poland's energy sector is characterized by an unprecedented dependency on coal within the EU, with approximately 70% of the Polish Power System (PPS) capacity installed in hard coal- and lignite-fired plants that produce nearly 80% of the country's electricity as of 2017.
• The energy sector, including heat, is responsible for approximately 50% of Poland's annual CO2 emissions, which is significantly higher than the EU average of 30%.
• Poland lacks a current energy strategy; the last formal national energy policy was adopted in 2009 and was due for review by late 2013, leading to 'regulatory chaos' and investment uncertainty.
• The Wind Energy Investments Act of 2016 effectively blocks new onshore wind development through the '10H rule', which requires turbines to be located at least ten times their tip height away from residential buildings.
• Poland is expected to miss its 2020 EU renewable energy source (RES) targets, primarily due to an insufficient share of RES in the transport sector, which dropped to less than 4% in 2016 against a 10% target.
• The EU Clean Energy Package (CEP) and the amended ETS directive are identified as crucial accelerators for the transition, although the report notes Poland's history of delayed and incorrect transposition of previous EU energy packages.

APA

Kukuła, W. (2018). Law and ambition in Poland’s energy transition. ClientEarth. https://www.clientearth.org/media/4dqplcxp/law-and-ambition-in-polands-energy-transition-ce-en.pdf

Chicago

Kukuła, Wojciech. Law and ambition in Poland’s energy transition. ClientEarth, 2018. https://www.clientearth.org/media/4dqplcxp/law-and-ambition-in-polands-energy-transition-ce-en.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Kukuła |first1=Wojciech |title=Law and ambition in Poland’s energy transition |publisher=ClientEarth |date=December 2018 |url=https://www.clientearth.org/media/4dqplcxp/law-and-ambition-in-polands-energy-transition-ce-en.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{kukua2018law, author = {Kukuła, Wojciech}, title = {{Law and ambition in Poland’s energy transition}}, institution = {ClientEarth}, year = {2018}, month = dec, url = {https://www.clientearth.org/media/4dqplcxp/law-and-ambition-in-polands-energy-transition-ce-en.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }