Scorecard summary:
Fulfilment of Rio Conference Commitment- Green
Current Government Position on Climate Change-Red
Per Capita CO2 Emissions - Yellow (8.9 metric tons per person in 1992)
National CO2 Emissions: Yellow- (341 million metric tons in 1992)

OVERALL ASSESSMENT:
Achieved Rio target with political and economic restructuring, but big questions remain on actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the next century, in Poland.

NATIONAL CLIMATE PROTECTION GOAL:
Poland has the domestic target to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions by 2000 based on 1988 levels.

SPECIFIC FEATURES:
Following restructuring of the economy, there was a reduction of carbon dioxide emissions by about 22 percent between 1988 and1992. This emission level has been constant since. However, with regained industrial strength and expected growth in the transport sector, CO2 emissions may increase by 20 percent up to 2000. Internationally, Poland has kept a low profile but has recently started to act as mover for several eastern block countries in the Climate Convention to advocate differentiated targets and base years. Though CO2 emissions alone were about 13 percent lower in 1990 than in 1988, all greenhouse gas emissions were 7 percent higher by 1990 (614 million tons) as against the domestic base year of 1988.

Poland has a rather low economic energy efficiency: consuming almost 5 times as much oil equivalent per 1000 US$ GDP as OECD-Europe. Its per capita carbon emission is similar to West European countries. Domestic coal use accounts for 75 percent of primary energy consumption. In Poland, just four energy-intensive sectors (iron and steel, ferrous metals, minerals, chemicals and the petrochemical industries) are responsible for one quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions.

NEGATIVE FEATURES:
Clean air policy rather than climate change protection is the priority in Polish environmental policy. The recent tremendous growth of road transport is welcomed as evidence of a strengthened economy. Because of the traditional influence and importance of the coal sector, fuel shifts or a decrease in coal mining are very difficult to achieve. Measures in the highly energy-intensive and inefficient heavy industry sectors are overdue.

POSITIVE FEATURES:
Polish citizens and the government have specifically excluded nuclear power as a means to mitigate climate change. New policies on decentralization of decisions will give regional and district governments budget authority for cost-effective investments. Incentives for scrubbing SO2 and NOx from dirty coal plants, and for replacement of coal by natural gas are being put in place by a new law in 1997.

Sources: UNFCCC: FCCC/CP/1996/12/Add.2; 2.7.1996; Country Report: Poland, in: Independent NGO Evaluations of National Plans for Climate Change Mitigations - Central and Eastern Europe first review, published by Climate Action Network, Brussels, January 1995; Strategies of GHG Emission Reduction and Adaptations of the Polish Economy to Changed Climate; Institute for Environmental Protection, Warsaw, 1996.