377 million tons of greenhouse gases – so much Poland broadcast in 2023, as soon as three EU countries had higher emissions: Germany (720.4 million tons), France (403.4 million tons) and Italy (399.4 million tons). Also in terms of emissions per capita Polska was fourth with a result of 10.2 tons of greenhouse gases per citizen. Only Luxembourg (13.6 tons), Denmark (13.5 tons) and Ireland 13.3 tons, which have incomparably fewer inhabitants than us.
As you can see, ranking of absolute emissions and those on a citizen is clearly different. Leaders in this first ranking are countries with the largest number of people in the EU, so it is understandable that they emit more. This example shows how deceptive the absolute numbers can be if we do not consider them in the right context. And what do this data tell us if you take a closer look at?
The average Pole does not emit much compared to the inhabitants of other countries. We are inhibited by the energy
– says Maria Włoskowicz – a lawyer from the Frank Bold foundation.
We did one lesson. Another one is ahead of us
Huge emissions of Germans should not surprise. It was in 2023 that the last nuclear power plant was extinguished there, which meant that their economy began to be even more based on the shaft. In addition, it is a large country that has almost 85 million citizens. However, you may wonder why such France – which also has more inhabitants than Poland, but is considered as atomic power – emitted more greenhouse gases than we, perceived as a coal tycoon?
– Households emit the most in France, and the energy sector up to five times less. In Poland it is the opposite – households emit little, but energy and mining a lot. If we approached the energy transformation more seriously, we could emit much less, because in other sectors it is not bad – says Maria Włoskowicz.
Poland has focused on energy transformation in recent years, but only in households. We put billions of zlotys in programs for building home solar installations, heat pumps and thermomodernization. This brought results. Unfortunately, at the same time we neglected the transformation of the energy sector.
Does Poland gain something by based the economy on coal?
Maria Włoskowicz also draws attention to the amount of emissions needed to generate 1 euro for the economy. Poland in this respect is second in the EU, only Bulgaria is ahead of us. – In other countries, large emissions have a measurable impact on economic growth and innovation, on GDP. In Poland, we emit a lot, but it does not translate into profits, because we invest a lot of money in mining and coal – notes Włoskowicz.
Our interlocutor, however, believes that you can look at all of the above data. Negatively, because we emit a lot and we gain relatively little. But there is also the other side – these data clearly show us that we have one specific area to improve. – Therefore, we should accelerate the transformation of the energy sector – believes our interlocutor.
Source: Gazeta

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