In the project of the National Plan in the field of energy and climate announced at the end of July, next to the forecasts of RES in the energy mix or a decrease in emissions, among others Two relevant – and relatively nearby – dates. The document, which is to determine the direction for the green transformation of our country, indicates that by 2035 coal will be withdrawn from heat production, and by 2040 – from electricity. In 15 years, electricity in Polish homes and enterprises would come only from zero -emission and low -emission sources (under this second term, which KPEiK uses the Ministry of Climate and Environment in discussions, there are gas blocks).
If the plans of the Ministry of Paulina Hennig-Kloski are adopted by the entire government-which is not yet determined-the mining sector in Silesia and in other coal regions there is an accelerated termination. It will also be necessary to leave the social agreement concluded four years ago with the hard coal mining industry in Silesia, which sets the mine closing schedule to 2049.
Read also: In 10 years we will say goodbye to coal in heating? What transformation does KPEIK provide for
No “or”, only “when”
That the reconciliation of KPEiK, but also Poland's energy policy by 2040 with the provisions of the contract “may be a challenge”, even before the announcement of the latest version of the plan in the White Book of Sustainable Transformation of Coal Regions in Poland 2025-2049 awarded the Ministry of Industry. The document prepared in the Katowice ministry cites data, which shows that in 2024 in hard and brown coal mines and burning these raw materials, it worked 153 thousand people. Employment in companies related to the industry can reach from 57 thousand up to 130 thousand more employees.
Poland is the largest EU hard coal producer, which was responsible for 97 percent two years ago. the entire production in the EU, as well as the second largest brown coal producer after Germany. In both branches, however, extraction decreases -In the years 2023-2024, hard coal exploitation decreased from approx. 48 million tonnes to approx. 44 million tonnes, while brown coal from approx. 42 million tons to approx. 41 million tonnes.
Coal is decreasing in the electricity, where in 2024 its participation was a record low 57.1 percent. Meanwhile, as the Energy Forum informs, the sector is responsible for 78 percent. hard coal consumption and practically all brown coal consumption. Ten years ago, “black gold” was responsible for almost 80 percent. our mix.
Most experts are consistent – coal is displaced from the system by cheaper renewable sources, and works over the next one and a half decades will be completed by the expansion of more flexible gas power plants or windmills at sea. Even opponents of an ambitious climate policy, skeptical of renewable energy, indicate a further moment of the atom replacing coal. The mere need to say goodbye to the raw material is not virtually undermined by anyone – The dispute concerns the term, as well as alternatives to regions related to mining and a model of making changes.
The commission will help, but it will not solve everything
As for the latter, the Green Economy Institute (IZG) persuades to turn to our western and southern neighbors. It is about the concept of the coal committee – introduced in Germany, and later in the Czech Republic of the authority, which plans to transform coal regions, gathering representatives of industry, trade unions, business, the third sector and finally central and local authorities.
As we read in the analysis published by Think-Thank, thanks to the work of the Commission in Berlin, the laws on the end of energy production from coal and structural strengthening of mining regions were adopted; The latter was also directed EUR 41.09 billion from the federal budget. Based on the recommendation, the Germans adopted the date 2038 as a caesura ending the coal era. In the case of the Czech Republic, the local commission recommended the same date, but ultimately the government accepted the ambitious date of 2033.
A political mandate, a specific working time, a wide range of stakeholders, including in a wider climate and energy strategy-these are the conditions that according to IZG should be met by the coal committee, preventing the “uncontrolled fall” of the mining industry and the socio-economic consequences of such collapse.
Paweł Wiejski, Policy Fellow Think-Thanku and the author of the analysis, tells us that at the level of strategic documents the authority could be authorized in the new energy policy of Poland. – The supervision of the commission's work is just right for the Ministry of Energy, which after the Ministry of Industry took over the issues related to mining. Minister Motyk says that he cares about partial maintenance of the presence of the ministry in Silesia, so he seems to be a natural candidate for it – says the expert.
According to rural from the Germans, we can learn to settles the transformation of coal regions in a broader context. – The commission appointed behind the Oder entered the transformations into a broader understood climate policy. As a result, although the process is still ongoing and will not end only in 2038, investments have already begun in the coal regions and billions of euros flowed to them. This is the opposite of our social agreement, which does not have a larger strategic foundation. We only pay subsidies, and the contract itself does not even have real legal force and has not been accepted by the European Commission – he indicates.
He also points out that “Commission should not be treated as a panacea for all problems“, however, the authority may help in planning and coordinating activities that it would be more difficult without support.
– Transformation will not always be easy. It is difficult to expect that the green technology industry will be queuing with investments in carbon regions, replacing the dimmed jobs, but with appropriate state policy we actually have a chance to lead to greater economic diversification. This one is already progressing – in places such as Upper Silesia, most people no longer work in mining – explains rural.
Read also: The black future of Polish coal. Analysts speak directly
Do you have to fight for the fund?
Alina Pogoda, a fair transformation specialist in the Polish green network, mining engineer and geology, suggests that one of the industries that could enter the place of extinguished coal could be, for example, the arms industry. There are more ideas for using local potential, and at the same time strengthening strategic sectors.
-The design of the new EU “seven-year-old”, or long-term financial framework for 2028-2034, devotes a lot of defense space. Coal regions can become an investment in this area. Also as part of strategic investments that increase Poland's security in the event of crises, you can also place drug factories in them – says.
Coal regions, however, may wait a serious problem. From 2022, Silesia together with Western Lesser Poland, Wielkopolska Wielkopolska, Bełchatów and the Wałbrzych subregion flowed funds from the EU Fund for Just Transformation (FST), which was to help in the “soft landing” of local communities after the departure from extraction. Despite the votes of many organizations about the need to extend this instrument, the new project of the Community budget does not provide for its continuation.
– budget negotiations will last up to two years, but so far The Polish government, but also Polish European Parliamentarians, did not fight enough to extend FST. Local and regional authorities or NGOs applied for this, but their voice on the EU arena is not so audible – comments Alina Pogoda.
He adds that the lack of a separate tool intended for transformation purposes will be particularly affected by those regions that have not yet received support with FST, i.e. the Turoszowski region and the Lublin region with the Bogdanka mine. – Not everything is lost yet. Fighting for the continuation of the Fund as part of negotiations over the budget is a task just right for the new Ministry of Energy – adds the expert. A separate “podkerta” for coal regions in the so -called domestic envelope.
According to the weather, the current expenses from FST allow you to create new jobs, retrained employees of extinguished industries or developing post -post -post -mining areas, but it is too early for the comprehensive assessment of the program's success. At the same time, he supports the idea of allocating larger national funds for this purpose, which today are directed, among others for extracts for extraction. As for the coal committee, the expert is in favor of a wide representation of various groups.
– The energy system applies to all of us, so its future cannot be decided by the coal industry itself. The Commission should develop a transformation plan not only for individual regions, but also at the national level. Poland still does not have the adopted date of departure from coal. 2049 from the social agreement, not only distant, does not include private mine or Lublin Bogdanka. We still do not know when the mine in Turów finished his work – he points out.
“The transformation must be fair”
If the accelerated departure from coal is to be maintained with the behavior of social consensus, A lot of work would be waiting for a possible commission. A sharp position on the latest KPEIK project was issued by the “Remroop” trade union, associating employees preparing the extracted raw material for wear. Trade unionists write in it about the lack of dialogue with the industry and the ministry of climate and environmental provisions by the Ministry of the Social Agreement – when omitting the legal requirements of consulting such documents with relationships.
They accuse the plan of “demonizing coal” and improving Polish energy security. – “The latest project is a catatrophe for coal regions” (original spelling – editor's note) – we read. The project is opposed to the earlier version from autumn 2024, which contained records more beneficial for mining, including the development of carbon dioxide capture and storage technology.
A more subdued voice was taken, among others, by the organization of the Miners' Trade Union in the Mysłowice-Wesoła Stone Coal Mine, which in its position focuses on possible difficulties in eliminating carbon from heating and heating until 2035. As he states, coal is still the main source of heat for almost 4 million households, and cleaner alternatives, such as heat pumps, gas Pellets, are expensive and require extensive infrastructure.
Trade unionists from Mysłowice also write about people who exchanged old “Cinderella” with more modern and less emission coal stoves. – “Now it turns out that these devices will also have to disappear. This is not only unfair, but also extremely demotivating,” they say. How we read further, “The energy transformation must be not only ecological, but above all fair“, and too fast and unplanned actions threaten to deepen energy poverty and social rebellion.
According to the industrial market agency, based in Katowice, the total coal mining of domestic producers in June this year was 3.1 million tons. Sales volume was also the same. It worked in the industry 72.6 thous. people.
