A whole lot of hot air

The Ministry of the Environment has decided to levy stricter CO2 emissions limits on the energy sector than on heavy industry. The move was made in response to the stricter CO2-emission quotas Poland now faces. Last year the European Commission lowered Poland's limit for the 2008-2012 period from a suggested 284.6 million tonnes to 208.5 million tonnes.

"The energy plants deserve lower limits since they have done nothing to modernize their facilities," Minister of the Environment Maciej Nowicki told the Gazeta Wyborcza daily. The stricter limits for the energy sector will not cause a radical increase in electricity prices - a few percent at the most, Nowicki stressed.

Many energy producers disapprove of the ministry's decision and announced they would take the matter to court. They said the plan violated the rule of equal treatment of firms.

Economy Minister Waldemar Pawlak warned that stricter CO2 limits in the energy sector would lead to lesser production and force people to rely heavily on their own means of heating. Consequently CO2 emissions would rise.

"The [Environment] Ministry's decision is absolutely right," Krystyna Bobińska, an expert on energy at the Sobieski Institute, told WBJ. She added that Polish energy plants, which are reliant on coal, are big polluters. She admitted, however, that turning to alternative energy sources is possible only in the long-term.

Sparing heavy industry from stricter CO2 limits would also spare it increasing costs and help it to remain competitive globally, Bobińska added.

The Polish government has appealed to the European Court of Justice on the matter of the higher CO2 limits, but no verdict has been issued yet. However, according to unofficial sources quoted by Polish Radio, the European Commission could raise CO2 emission targets, allowing newer member states, including Poland, to retain higher quotas. The burden would then be moved to the more developed countries of EU.