The Ministry of Climate has presented another version of the draft law on the emissions trading system. The project provides that 40% of revenues from the sale of greenhouse gas emission allowances by the Polish government will be transferred to the Energy Transformation Fund (FTE) to finance transformation of energy.

The funds are targeted to cover the costs of investments in the decarbonisation of the Polish economy. The new version of the project includes possibility of financing for companies planning investments, e.g. in the production and use of hydrogen or heat production.

According to the new version of the legislation, FTE will receive as much as PLN 120 billion over the decade 2021-2030 – so it is by half more as assumed in the previous version, because the amounts in the new project have been upgraded and currently the revenues to the FTE are estimated at nearly PLN 120 billion. Operating expenses, allocated to investments from the fund, will reach PLN 112.4 billion by the end of 2031.

PLN 2.5 billion will appear on the market as early as next year, and in the coming years, companies can count on several billion PLN annually. However, as the portal journalists point out, the catalog of investments for which funds can be allocated raises concerns. The allegations concern that the main beneficiaries will be energy companies, not the commodity industry.

In addition to the purposes for which the revenues from the sale of emission rights may be allocated, a lot of emotions are also aroused by the method of financing the investment. The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management will be responsible for the activities of FTE. The project so far envisaged granting subsidies and loans. In the new version, the financing system will be more complicated.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński