The EU methane regulation, drafted with the participation of Poles, gives time for changes in the mining sector. „We managed to avoid an almost immediate lay-off of at least 50,000 people and a negative impact on an additional 250,000 jobs in the so-called mining-adjacent sectors,” explains Ryszard Pawlik in BiznesAlert.pl.
„The compromise on the methane regulation contains all the key provisions that we won – in dialogue with the social side in Poland – during the negotiations on this legal act in the European Parliament,” explains Ryszard Pawlik, advisor to MEP Jerzy Buzek in a comment to BiznesAlert.pl. „We managed to increase the admissible methane emission level tenfold as of 2027 and, importantly, it will be averaged, which means it won’t be calculated per mine, but the operator. And probably even more importantly, it will be possible to spend the fees for exceeding the permissible limits on investments in installations that capture methane in mines,” Pawlik continues.
„The agreement in this form is good news for the climate, because it will undoubtedly encourage Poland to reduce methane emissions, giving it the necessary time and instruments; but it is also good news for the Polish mining industry, because the new rules do not undermine the idea of a fair transition in regions such as our Silesian Voivodeship,” Pawlik explains.
„Moreover, we managed to avoid an almost immediate lay-off of at least 50,000 people and a negative impact on an additional 250,000 jobs in the so-called mining-adjacent sectors. Once again, it turned out that if you have arguments and are able to present them skillfully, you can convince your partners in Brussels of their reasons and points of view even in the most difficult matters,” our interlocutor concludes.
On November 15, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament reached a preliminary agreement on reducing methane emissions in the energy sector. The update of the regulation, which is part of the gas package presented in December 2021, introduces new requirements for the measurement, reporting and verification of emissions.
Wojciech Jakóbik