Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Poland. Current State and Reduction Strategies 2020-2050

Reduction of greenhouse gases is the key climate-related issue, both in Europe and worldwide. Therefore, the European Union imposed an obligation to achieve the targets specified in the climate and energy package on Member States, i.e. reduced the emission by 20% until 2020 when compared to 1990. These and very other reasons show an overriding need for ongoing efforts to improve the methods of reducing greenhouse gases. The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to present the current quantitative and qualitative emission of greenhouse gases in Poland, (2) to show the strategies to reduce greenhouse gases in the years 2020-2050, (3) to identify the main barriers that prevent greenhouse gas emissions in Poland, (4) to choose the most probable scenario of reduction of the amounts of gases released to the air in Poland for the years 2020-2050. The analysis of the concepts available shows that implementation of the ‘renewable’ and ‘nuclear’ scenarios is less likely than the ‘coal’ scenario. This demonstrates that there are too many factors that hinder the implementation of the concepts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the power sector in Poland. What we definitely need is long-term changes (scenario for the next 25 years) to re-shape the mentality of the Poles and reduce economical barriers, which seem to be crucial for the process.