POLAND

Poland ranks tenth in operational coal capacity globally and relied on coal for approximately 70% of its electricity production in 2022. In addition to Poland’s large existing coal fleet, one additional coal unit is under construction and may be the last new coal unit the region sees. All other proposed coal capacity has been cancelled in recent years following rising carbon prices, residential opposition, and other forces. The government is currently restructuring the energy sector with a spin-off of coal assets and has granted support to state-owned coal mining company Polska Grupa Gornicza (PGG) to reduce capacity, though the government maintains that its mines will be allowed to continue operating until 2049. In 2021, Poland signed the Global Coal to Clean Power Transition Statement at the COP26 meeting, but it later claimed developing country status despite being one of the world's biggest economies. Poland confirmed that it will maintain its desperately late 2049 hard coal phase out date. In June 2021, Eastern Wielkopolska – a major lignite mining region home to two coal plants – bucked the country's trend and became the first region in Poland to join the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA). The region aims to end the use of coal in the energy and heating sectors by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.