Policy Report: How to Address Energy Poverty in Poland

Energy Poverty policy in CEE is disorienting. Instead of strategic clarity that links social policy with climate policy, it puts both at risk.

This paper is co-sponsored by Visegrad Insight – Res Publica Foundation and the European Climate Foundation. It is part of the larger project on climate and democratic security in Central and Eastern Europe, which you can read more about here.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

• Energy Poverty affects CEE more acutely than the richer or less energy-intensive EU nations. Poland is no exception due to winter temperatures, lower wages, weaker welfare, widespread use of fossil fuels for home heating and housing with low energy efficiency. Despite the similarity in energy poverty challenges, the region has yet to have a unified approach to the problem.
• Any legal definitions must adequately reflect socio-economic realities, a problem underlined by the absence of reliable and relevant data. This makes it harder to direct resources to those most in need.
• Poland must develop a multipronged strategy, partly based on current and previous programmes that have already shown greater potential, and adopt best practices from neighbouring countries to ensure a socially just energy transition.
• The optimal public policies addressing energy poverty must include not only the criterion of low income but also the low energy efficiency of a household.
• Tackling energy poverty should also form part of Poland’s revised Energy Policy to 2040 (PEP2040), which has been drafted but not approved by the government ahead of the 2023 general elections.

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