What goes on in Poland on the 27th of March.
European Commission: Poland still has some time for the RES goal
Artur Runge-Metzger, Director in the Directorate-General for Climate Action (DG CLIMA) in the European Commission, argues that Poland still has some time to achieve the goal of participation of Renewable Energy Sources in the energy mix.
Poland, like other EU countries, submitted its draft climate and energy plan in Brussels. The European Commission does not want to judge it at this point, because they have to give their opinion to many departments, including transport, industrial, infrastructure, etc. However, there are differences in the approaches of member states in the preparation of documents because some of them are doing it for the first time: – I’m not talking about Poland, who is just trying to implement climate policy, hence some others are doing it with greater success than others. But this is just the beginning of the discussion. What we see are projects, certainly not perfect, but now is the time to make progress – he said.
Runge-Metzger asked about what the procedure will look like, said that the first assessments will be made by the end of June: – The second half of the year is a time for reflection and amendments for member countries, but also for EC talks with Member States and interstate consultations. It would be good to see the plans of your neighbors and develop common visions especially where there are cross-border connections for better cooperation. Today, the projects of 28 plans are made public and available on the web, but only in national languages - said the interlocutor of BiznesAlert.pl.
For the first time, Poland has officially admitted that it will not meet the 15 percent target for renewables in its energy mix in 2020. When asked about the consequences, Runge-Metzger said that the Commission reviews and evaluates progress every year with increasing the share of RES in the energy sector in each of the member countries, because everyone has their goals: – Indeed, looking at the EU, one can say that there is progress. There is still some time until 2020, and please remember that the target is set at the end of 2020. The evaluation of goals will take place in 2021 and it will certainly last several months, probably even up to the middle of the year. And only then will it be possible to speak about concrete consequences if the goals are not actually fulfilled. The European Commission will then take a position on countries that will not fulfill their goals. If, however, we look at the directive on renewable energy sources, there are no provisions on sanctions as such – he said.