Polish companies belonging to the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) tried, during a meeting with Undersecretary of State from the Polish Ministry for Energy Michał Kurtyka on Tuesday 23 May, to persuade the Polish government of the full social, environmental and economic potential to be derived from the package of clean energy measures and the revision of the directives on energy efficiency and the energy performance of buildings.
Given its key role among Visegrad countries and in the Council of the EU, the position of the Polish government influences the level of ambition of the revisions of both the energy efficiency directive and the energy performance of buildings directive, which are currently being debated by member states, the EU-ASE said. The Maltese Presidency of the Council is trying to reach an agreement on a general approach on each of these directives at the meeting of EU energy ministers on 26 June.
“In Poland, our companies have production sites which create hundreds of local jobs, stimulate exports and contribute to national economic growth. Energy efficiency is a business opportunity that needs to be boosted by a cost-effective EU binding target of 40% for 2030 to guarantee security for private and public investments. Energy efficiency also provides the answer to two major political problems in Poland: energy poverty and air quality”, stated EU-ASE President Monica Frassoni, who is also joint leader of the European Green Party.
Energy poverty in Poland affects some 4.4 million people (9.6% of households), largely due to the low energy efficiency of buildings. With regard to air quality, a staggering 33 out of the 50 most polluted cities in Europe are in Poland, according to the WHO. This is due to the fact that the Polish energy mix relies mostly on coal, which generates more than 80% of the national electricity and is also used to heat homes, the EU-ASE states.
Today, the economic cost of energy consumption in Poland related to the buildings’ sector exceeds 70 billion PLN (€16.5 billion), or about 4% of annual GDP. This shows the great potential that can be released by introducing energy efficiency technologies in this sector. The revision of the energy performance of buildings directive is a unique opportunity to reduce the energy demand of the building stock and improve air quality, it argues.
The European Alliance to Save Energy was set up in 2010 by a number of European multinational companies including Oracle, Veolia, Philips, Saint-Gobain, Schneider, Siemens, Danfoss and Knauf to promote energy efficiency to the business world and political decision makers. Its members operate in the 28 member states of the EU, employ over 340,000 people in Europe and have a combined annual turnover of €115 billion. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)