Mott's Blog

A new report from the very credible Client Earth group answers the question "why can't Poland get money from the EU to fund the transition away from coal to cleaner technologies?" " As many as 70 per cent.  projects implemented by energy companies in exchange for the free allocation of emission of greenhouse gases include carbon infrastructure, and only 10 percent. investments in renewable energy sources. However, the purpose negotiated by the Polish government called " derogation" ....  was to be the modernization of the outdated energy sector and diversification of sources of supply.  Investment in the coal could be affected by serious problems after 2020, when the price of allowances will begin to grow  -  comments by ClientEarth Foundation, Lawyers for the Earth ." The total funding up to 2020 was 4.5 billion EURO! Instead of spending the support, as intended by the EU, on de-carbonization, Poland spent it mostly on projects to support the exis...

Poland's politicians have kept up a myth that the EU would allow special assistance arising from the climate and emissions trading scheme to go into modernizing Polish coal-fired power. This - as well as a diversion to general revenue - was the model from the last climate deal (whereby Poland abused the EU funding in ways that were not unnoticed in Brussels). Now the new deal has a big coffer, but the projects must go through the Environmental Investment Bank for approval. Note: EIB gave up on generally supporting coal projects more than a year ago. Thus, we have the situation - entirely expected - where the EIB will not allow this sizable fund to be used to continue projects that emit more than a small amount of CO2. "...the EIB does not intend to recommend funding any projects whose emissions are greater than 550gCO2 / kWh, which in practice excludes all coal projects. [An EIB representative] added that the emission limit can only be made more stringent. ..."   C...