During the meeting, Poland expressed support for a compromise version of the conclusions on the EU strategy on adapting to climate change. The Council conclusions adopted stress that the European Union should support and complement the efforts of the Member States to protect its citizens and step up the adaptation to climate change. The Council took account of the most important issues raised by Poland during the negotiations on the draft conclusions.

In addition, during the meeting, the EU environment ministers held their first discussion on the EU Action Plan aimed at reaching zero pollution presented by the European Commission in March this year.

“Poland strongly supports most of the actions identified by the European Commission, but the real implementation of these solutions will be a major challenge for the Member States. It is essential to coordinate the actions in all the forums and to involve all stakeholders in their implementation, both at the national and the EU level. Ambitions for environmental issues must be designed taking into account their feasibility in the economic context, especially during the pandemic era,” said Deputy Minister Adam Guibourgé-Czetwertyński.

The debate also raised the issue of the progress of the regulation on batteries and waste batteries repealing Directive 2006/66/EC and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.

Poland has supported the arguments of many Member States and the Council’s legal services that, due to the clear environmental component, it is advisable to use a double legal basis, i.e. in addition to Article 114, also Article 192 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). 

At the same time, Poland questioned the need and added value of the new specific provisions on restrictions on hazardous substances for batteries, taking into account existing procedures under the REACH regulation.

Moreover, in the field of ‘varia’, Poland supported the position of the Visegrad Group countries, the presidency of which it is holding until the end of June, in the area of the so-called sustainable financing (EU taxonomy). Deputy Minister Guibourgé-Czetwertyński pointed to the need for the European Commission to urgently issue proposals for additional regulation in the framework of the taxonomy (delegated act), which would take into account nuclear energy and natural gas.

“The Polish strategy for energy transformation adopted by the Polish government at the beginning of this year envisages a significant reduction in the share of coal in electricity generation. Ensuring in EU regulations the possibility of financing nuclear energy and investment in natural gas which, together with renewable energy sources, are intended to replace the high-emission coal, is important for the effectiveness of the Polish transformation toward climate neutrality,” emphasised Deputy Minister.