This paper analyses Poland’s National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP). The NECP should act as one of the country’s main planning documents, an important reference point for national strategies and programmes concerning broadly understood energy transition and climate protection. Three years after its adoption, the NECP is about to be updated. This is a good time for a critical analysis of its content and drafting process. Has it really served as a benchmark for government action? Did it define the crucial dilemmas faced by the Polish energy sector in the current decade? What should we pay attention to when updating it?