Before the first round of elections We wrote about distortions and manipulations regarding climate and energywhich appeared during the election campaign. After the first round you can say: nonsense won. Those candidates who disregard climate issues and have a return to coal have won more than half of the votes.
Coal candidates
Karol Nawrocki He repeated in the debates that “Poland coal We should fed “(maybe trying to refer to Donald Trump and” Drill, Baby, Drill) until the launch of nuclear power plants, which are “the most stable and flexible source of energy.” Renewable sources can only be seen as an addition to the system.
Grzegorz Braun convinced “only coal pays off” and talked many times about the “discrimination and exclusion zone in Warsaw”. Sławomir Mentzen promised that coal would provide us with “cheap energy”. Coal is to be cheap when – as the confederation politician wants – we will stop paying fees within the ETS system. Only that in fact this fee is paid by coal burning power plants, not mines – so it has no influence on pricesą the fuel itself. This is expensive in Poland regardless of the Union's climate policy.
These candidates were not the only ones whose statements on the topics of energy and climate had – at best – a loose relationship with reality. We also manipulated Rafał Trzaskowski's manipulation. However, he, like the left -handed candidates or Szymon Hołownia, declared a more realistic approach to energy and focusing on the development of a mix of renewable sources and nuclear power plants.
The defense of the Polish “black gold” has already become an almost campaign ritual – it was probably the thread of all elections of the last 10 years and earlier. But unlike the narrative of the Polish right, the world is changing. Coal is not only a problem because of the climate and smog. It is more and more a ball at our economy, because the current from coal is getting more and more expensive and burdened with high CO2 emissions, which may discourage investors.
Elections without climate
Of course, it should be noted that climate or even energy itself was not among the main topics of the campaign. The candidates mentioned them, answering questions in debates and interviews, but they did not take them to their banners. Therefore, it cannot be assumed that for the elections themselves, this approach to coal was the main reason for choosing right -wing candidates.
However, voters for Nawrocki, Mentzen and Braun, first of all, at least accepted their approach to the climate and energy, and secondly – the candidates themselves could convince them of the alleged advantages of baseing energy on coal.
In addition, concerns about energy – especially its prices – or more broadly, climate policy is not only the result of misinformation from the mouth of politicians, but also the fears that the voters themselves have. Political forces – whether in Poland or in Brussels – who want to introduce more ambitious climate regulations must do everything so that they do not hit people in such a difficult financial situation, and secondly – they were well explained and understandable to citizens.
Meanwhile, support for candidates who want to stick to coal, means trouble for us. Because because of the climate and health on the one hand, and for the economy and development on the other – we need a well -planned energy transformation.
Bad news for everyone
Although these politicians are eager to accuse others of being guided by “ideology” in matters of climate and energy, it is the insulation of coal that is a more ideological approach, not facts based. The only advantage of coal is that … it is – it means that in Poland there are its resources. It's just that when it comes to hard coal, we have largely exhausted these easily accessible resources. Now we mainly have poor quality coal, whose deposits are deep, and their extraction is associated with high costs and risk for miners. How The journalist Bartłomiej Derski pointed out attention“the efficiency of mining in the Polish mining group in 2024 was only 14 % lower than in private Biedaszybach from the turn of the century.”
The fact that we have some coal resources in Poland does not mean that it is a cheap source of energy. In addition to the fuel costs, we add billions of zlotys from the budget to unprofitable mines each year. If we were to continue to rely on coal, it would also mean the need to reach for another deposits, as well as renovation or construction of new coal power plants. Meanwhile, renewable energy sources – although they are not free from problems – are becoming cheaper. Therefore, if Poland would continue to stick to coal, we will lose money, and we will continue to lose health as a result of coal burning pollution.
However, during previous PiS and presidency of Andrzej Duda – despite the promises – the extraction of coal fell because renewable sources and gas displace him from the energy. Even if the right in power slowed down this process, it is difficult to imagine that it will stop it, or even more – it will reverse. Therefore, on the support and possible of candidates from sign “Black gold” will lose not only the general public, but also the miners themselves. Because there will be fantasies on the maintenance or increase in extraction, with “pure coal technologies” that allegedly save the sector. And in the closure of the mines and power plants it will happen, but without a plan and preparation, because the rulers will not want to honestly put matters to them.