Clean Technology Group - Britain's experience in investments in low-carbon energy and energy efficiency
(Date: 2011-04-18)
The BPCC’s CleanTech policy group met at the British Embassy on 17 November to hear Dr David Vincent from the Carbon Trust, explain how the organisation works. Carbon Trust is an NGO originally set up by HM Government to support businesses in implementing low-carbon initiatives.
Dr Vincent set out the British experience ‘on the journey towards a low-carbon economy’, and the policies designed to save energy. He said that in 2008 alone, Carbon Trust’s experts have directly been responsible for savings of over £200m of energy savings and reducing CO2 emissions by two-thirds of a million tonnes.
Turning to Poland, he said that the biggest issue facing Poland is the low level of social awareness of the dangers of continuing the current high-carbon policy. Environmentally-friendly behaviour, either among business or consumers, is still considered to be a niche phenomenon, despite being ever-more widely promoted by official authorities. Hence the need for a much deeper social dialogue about the benefits of energy savings.
Another significant barrier in the implementation of low-carbon policies is the nature of Poland’s dialogue between business and politics, which is still seen in the context of lobbying and informal arrangements. "Dr Vincent noted that knowledge about the benefits of implementing low-carbon policies is still rare among Poland’s political and business elites", said Sebastian Stachowski, environmental consultant at WSP Enviro. "Poland’s powerful coal lobby – the coal companies, the miners’ unions, and their allies in the state sector and government – has historically been influential . The coal lobby’s voice has been loud and clear, whereas the voice of the ecology lobby is very quiet in Poland", he added.
Members of the CleanTech policy group debated with Dr Vincent as to how best to remove the barriers that are blocking Poland’s road towards a low-carbon economy. Dr Vincent said that the thinking that all contacts between the public sector and representatives of business wanting to implement energy savings are bound to end in corruption is harmful.
"This way of thinking must change," stresses Dr Vincent. Policy group members also raised questions related to the legal and regulatory changes required to improve the chances for the implementation. Another issue flagged up is the lack of continuity of central government; not one Polish government has ever been re-elected; as top civil servants also change when governments do, policy directions are in constant flux.
Unfortunately, the innovations that need to be implemented to move Poland towards a lower-carbon future are not cheap. To launch an initiative such a Carbon Trust-style body in Poland will require the government to spend some 60m-70m PLN. When this issue was debated in the EU in 2009, the Polish government made it clear that it could not afford such a sum. The bold proposition of the EU’s climate commissioner, Connie Hedegaard, to reduce CO2 emissions by 30% by 2020. The striving of global economies towards as sustainable, low-carbon future is tied in with significant costs and uncertain energy prices. The Carbon Trust has calculated that in the case of the UK, the budget for this will be around £50 billion. A priority for government will be support for the development of those business sectors that are based on carbon-free energy, such as technology firms, which can create new employment and export opportunities.
The solutions proposed by the Carbon Trust for Poland are above all focused on the introduction of energy saving policies, ‘green buildings’, pressing the government to fulfil its promises as to spending budgets set aside for low-carbon solutions (regardless of which government is in power), but above all changing the attitudes of society. "Some energy producers in the UK still don’t want to understand the problem and are unwilling to implement an energy efficiency policy. Others, however, engage in this project willingly, going beyond that which is required by current regulatory requirements," said Dr Vincent. "Similar solutions can be adopted by Polish energy producers," he said.