Long-term derusification of the EU energy sector in line with the climate goals

According to data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS), quoted in its analysis by Forum Energii, currently, 46 percent of Polish energy needs are met by imported raw materials. For its own needs, Poland produces only 3 percent of crude oil, 20 percent gas, and 80 percent of coal. Until recently, the rest came mainly from Russia – over the last 20 years, Poland spent over PLN 900 billion on the purchase of Russian energy resources. This is changing, however, because successive Polish governments have been pursuing a strategy of diversifying supplies, mainly oil and gas, for over a dozen years. According to the information quoted by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki at last week's conference, in 2015 Russian gas had 72 percent of Polish imports. In turn, in 2021 this share has already dropped to 57 percent.

The countries of Central and Western Europe are now even more dependent on supplies of Russian raw materials than the countries of Eastern Europe, which have been pursuing a policy of diversification for a long time, fearing Russia's blackmail.

"Our climate goals are absolutely consistent with the move away from fossil fuels from Russia. If we want to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 at the EU level, we must after all move away from fossil fuels in energy," Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński, Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment, said.

The replacement of fossil fuels with renewable sources, however, is a long-term process, and at the same time, in the short term, one must seek to diversify the supply of these raw materials, on which the EU economy is largely based. There will also be a need to change the approach to gas, which was to be a transition fuel in the energy transformation process and an alternative to coal.

(Newseria)