Solving the coal puzzle

Lessons from four years of coal phase-out policy in Europe

Playing With Fire

An assessment of company plans to burn biomass in EU coal power stations

The A-B-C of BCAs

An overview of the issues around introducing Border Carbon Adjustments in the EU

Coal mine methane leaks are worse for climate change than all shipping and aviation

New IEA World Energy Outlook shows coal mine methane leaks add up to a third to emissions from coal

Coal Free Kingdom

UK election manifestos should commit to take the UK fully coal-free, including in industry, finance, and domestic heating – ready for next year’s COP26 in Glasgow

The cash cow has stopped giving: Are Germany’s lignite plants now worthless?

Our new research finds German lignite gross profits collapsed 54% so far in 2019. With lignite now loss-making, the case for Gov. compensation has collapsed

ANALIZA W JĘZYKU POLSKIM

On September 30th 2016, the Polish Ministry of Development completed a broad public consultation on the Government’s Responsible Development Strategy (Strategia Odpowiedzialnego Rozwoju).

In a recent report “How the << Responsible Development Strategy>> contributes to the implementation of climate policy?” published by The Institute for Sustainable Development (ISD), independent evaluation by Polish research organizations reveals that only five of the 29 major courses of action targeting low-carbon investments presented in this document are likely to be undertaken.

In our new briefing (in Polish), Sandbag presents a number of recommendations on how to increase the likelihood of Responsible Development Strategy implementation. These are based on previous studies available, in particular Bend it, don’t break it and Sharing the Burden. We argue that such actions will increase investor and public confidence in Government planning.

We encourage the Ministry of Development to consider the following steps to respond to the results of the public consultation:

  • increase the cooperation between the Ministries of Development, Finance and Environment in order to expand sources of funding for the implementation of Responsible Development Strategy,
  • introduce a European Project-Based Mechanism to the Effort Sharing Regulation (ESR) in order to increase foreign funding for investment in projects that can generate additional emission permits within the ESR and to contribute to compliance with EU targets for 2030,
  • use funds available under the EU ETS through the National Investment Plans strategically and support changes that might increase the real value of these funds during 2021-2030.

The above steps will positively influence the financing of Responsible Development Strategy projects such as those creating infrastructure for e-mobility, improving building sector energy efficiency and supporting changes to the agricultural and breeding sectors. They will also contribute to the implementation of tasks aimed at modernizing and expanding electricity and gas transmission and distribution networks as well as supporting combined heat and local energy distribution projects and development of micro-renewables.