Minister Korolec: Creating EU Energy Roadmap 2050

“I am convinced that the conclusions of the meeting in Bełchatow will provide good material for the European Commission to prepare an energy strategy up to 2050,” said Deputy Minister of Economy Martin Korolec at a press conference following a meeting of the Directors-General for Energy of all the Member States. A conference with Philip Lowe, Director General for Energy European Commission, was held on 14th July 2011 in Bełchatów.

Deputy Minister Korolec stated that the main topics of the meetings of representatives of the EU Member States in Bełchatów concerned innovative low carbon technologies and the possibilities for their support. “I am glad that we were able to arrange this discussion in Bełchatow, a place that may soon become the flagship of Poland in the field of carbon capture and storage (CCS),” he stressed.

The Directors-General for Energy of the Member States agreed that the road to “carbon efficiency” in 2050 must not adversely affect the competitiveness of EU economies. According to them the transformation of the sector should be used as a platform for creating new jobs. – However, we should maintain a positive balance between employment in the low-carbo sector and jobs lost in sectors which produce emissions in each country separately – added Deputy Minister Korolec.

The Deputy Minister also stressed that coal will remain an important source of energy in the world for many years.

“Poland is still the largest producer of this fuel in Europe. By developing low carbon technologies, we can become one of the world leaders in the use of coal,” he added.

In turn, Philip Lowe, Director General for Energy of the European Commission, emphasised that entrepreneurs expect political stability of the energy sector regulatory framework, so that they can plan their investments. “That is why by focussing especially on the creation of the Energy Roadmap 2050, we want to look at the regulations in this field,” explained Lowe.

Participants of the meeting in Bełchatów also stressed the leading role of the energy chain efficiency in achieving the objectives of reducing CO2 by 2050. In addition they also discussed the importance of environmental technologies such as cogeneration, central cooling or electric cars. Furthermore they noted the necessity of developing an energy infrastructure in the intelligence networks.

“Assuming the Presidency of the EU after Poland, Denmark has already confirmed that the continuation of work on this strategy will be one of its priorities,” said Deputy Minister Korolec.