Polish Briefing: Legal dispute between Client Earth and PGE

What goes on in Poland on the 23rd of September.

Legal dispute between Client Earth and PGE

The court gave Client Earth and PGE Giek, the owner of Elektrownia Bełchatów, 3 months for settlement talks regarding Elektrownia Bełchatów. Last year, an environmental organization filed a lawsuit demanding that CO2 emissions from Poland’s largest lignite-fired power plant be reduced to zero.

The parties are to find solutions to reduce the damage that the power plant causes to the environment. – We are ready for cooperation, but only if PGE GiEK recognizes the seriousness of the climate crisis described by the IPCC – Client Earth reports.

In 2019, the ClientEarth Foundation filed with the District Court in Łódź a precedent lawsuit against the owner of the Bełchatów Power Plant, PGE GiEK. The Foundation demanded that the court order PGE GiEK to abandon coal combustion in the Bełchatów Power Plant by 2035 at the latest or to install devices reducing CO2 emissions to zero at the same date.

Polska Grupa Energetyczna responds to the accusations of ClientEarth and declares openness to dialogue.

– The PGE Group, including the PGE GiEK company, to which Elektrownia Bełchatów belongs, fully respects and implements the process of energy transformation towards low-emissions, and remains open to dialogue – communicated Polska Grupa Energetyczna on Twitter.