Polish industry must phase out coal – it’s essential to remain competitive and meet climate targets. How can we speed up this process in a sector that’s already struggling with high energy costs? This was discussed at a June conference organised by the Reform Institute.

On 24 June, we organised a conference accompanying the launch of two reports on the electrification of Polish industry: ‘Clean industrial heat. Electrification scenarios for selected sectors’ and ‘Energising industry #2 Financial aspects of industrial heat electrification in Poland’.

The publications show that in sectors such as paper, food and chemicals, the electrification of industrial processes is already feasible and also necessary in order to avoid higher costs in the coming years.

The debate featured representatives from government, business, the financial sector and NGOs. Guests discussed the main barriers and challenges associated with the phase-out of fossil fuels in industry. They emphasised that although technologies and financing are available, they are not sufficient to accelerate decarbonisation.

Electrification strategies are missing, which would highlight the need for investment and the risks of postponing it in the form of rising costs for plants. It was pointed out that poor communication around EU ETS2 means that many entrepreneurs still do not believe that this mechanism will come into force.

The summary of the event, which details our guests’ insights and conclusions from the conference, is available in Polish here.