In 2024, the long-awaited EU electricity and natural gas market reform packages were adopted, which will increase the flexibility of energy services and develop markets for renewable gaseous fuels. We also have seen new regulations for creating sustainable supply chains, such as the EUDR and the implementation of the CSRD.
It has been a busy year in the field of energy and climate change, so it is worth briefly summarising all the changes that will be relevant to businesses operating in these areas.
2024 key legal changes
The internal electricity market reform:[1]
- Definitions of new terms including: peak hour, peak-shaving product, dedicated measurement devices, flexibility
- Introducing a regulation for peak-shaving products
- Extending the regulation of tariff methodologies, which will take into account the integration of energy from RES, promoting the use of flexibility services, facilitating energy storage
- Introducing the investment incentive regulation, including Member States removing barriers to PPAs
- Defining flexible connection and energy sharing agreements
The internal gas market reform[2]:
- Extending the definition of natural gas to include hydrogen and biomethane
- Introducing a basic regulation for the internal hydrogen market, including the definition of the conditions for network access and the obligations of network operators in this respect
- Introducing obligations for Member States to streamline permit-granting procedures for the construction or operation of gas and hydrogen facilities
- Introducing the obligation of certification of gas and hydrogen network operators and the certification of renewable gases
- Clarifying balancing and tariff setting rules (including tariff discounts, in particular for biomethane)
- Extending end-user rights (e.g. facilitation of gas supplier change)
Restriction of trade in deforestation causing products – EUDR:[3]
- Specifying commodities causing deforestation: cattle, cocoa, coffee, oil palm, rubber, soya and wood, as well as relevant products that have been made using relevant commodities, the trading in which causes deforestation
- Defining reporting obligations for operators and traders
- Introducing a due diligence (or simplified due diligence) obligation and a dedicated system for these purposes
- Introducing an obligation to carry out a risk assessment, and to document and to review these risk assessments
The reduction of methane emissions[4]
- Defining methane emission
- Introducing an obligation for measurement, reporting and verification of methane emissions in the energy sector
- Introducing an obligation to have the measurement verified by independent verifiers;
- Introducing an obligation for oil and gas companies to regularly monitor equipment to identify leaks and carry out necessary repairs
- Establishing public lists of inactive wells and mines
- Introducing an obligation to prepare national mitigation plans to remediate, reclaim and permanently plug inactive wells and temporarily plugged wells
Implementation of the ESG system[5]
- Adoption of a law implementing the CSRD
- Establishing rules for the preparation of sustainability reports (reporting and simplified reporting) by large enterprises and SMEs that are public interest entities, which include the information necessary to understand the relationship between the company’s operations and sustainability issues
- Introducing an obligation to explain the steps taken by the company to obtain the necessary information about its value chain, the reasons why it was not possible to obtain all the necessary information and the company’s plans to obtain such information in the future
Challenges for the Polish energy sector in 2025
The Polish wind energy industry is still awaiting the siting rules for onshore wind farms to be liberalised. A draft amendment[6] is currently being discussed, which would change the so-called 10H/700m rule to 500m.
Work is also underway on amendments to the RES Act,[7] which would, among other things, treat the following activities as matters of overriding public interest:
- Construction or modernisation of RES systems
- Construction or modernisation of equipment and systems necessary for connecting a given RES system to the grid
- Installation of heat pumps with a capacity of up to 50 MW
The list of economic activities that qualify an entrepreneur as an industrial consumer will also be extended, which means that the number of entities required to obtain and present certificates of origin for redemption will increase.
There is still no clear scenario for abandoning the application of state intervention measures in the electricity market, and the bill[8] under consideration extends the application of maximum electricity prices for vulnerable consumers until the end of September, ‘freezing’ them at the same level as in 2024.
Work is also underway to update the National Energy and Climate Plan, which includes a target to increase the share of RES in the energy mix from 23% to 58.4% by 2030. The implementation of the ambitious scenario for Poland’s energy transition remains a challenge, given the increasing number of connection refusals and the still immature market for RES-stabilising technologies.
We should also bear in mind the measures[9] to amend the act introducing the deposit refund scheme.[10] For the time being, its entry into force has been postponed from 1 January to at least 1 October 2025.
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[1] Regulation (EU) 2024/1747 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 amending Regulations (EU) 2019/942 and (EU) 2019/943 as regards improving the Union’s electricity market design (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L, 2024/1747) and Directive (EU) 2024/1711 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 amending Directives (EU) 2018/2001 and (EU) 2019/944 as regards improving the Union’s electricity market design (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L, 2024/1711)
[2] Regulation (EU) 2024/1789 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen, amending Regulations (EU) No 1227/2011, (EU) 2017/1938, (EU) 2019/942 and (EU) 2022/869 and Decision (EU) 2017/684 and repealing Regulation (EC) No 715/2009 (recast) (Text with EEA relevance) OJ L, 2024/1789 and Directive (EU) 2024/1788 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on common rules for the internal markets for renewable gas, natural gas and hydrogen, amending Directive (EU) 2023/1791 and repealing Directive 2009/73/EC (recast) (OJ L, 2024/1788)
[3] Regulation (EU) 2023/1115 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 May 2023 on the making available on the Union market and the export from the Union of certain commodities and products associated with deforestation and forest degradation and repealing Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 (OJ L 2023/150 as amended)
[4] Regulation (EU) 2024/1787 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 June 2024 on the reduction of methane emissions in the energy sector and amending Regulation (EU) 2019/942 (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 2024/1787)
[5] Directive (EU) of the European Parliament and of the Council 2022/2464 of 14 December 2022 amending Regulation (EU) No 537/2014, Directive 2004/109/EC, Directive 2006/43/EC and Directive 2013/34/EU, as regards corporate sustainability reporting (OJ L 2022/322), transposed in the draft act amending the Accounting Act, the Act on Statutory Auditors, Audit Firms and Public Supervision and certain other acts [UC14]
[6] Draft act amending the Act on Investments in Wind Power Plants and certain other acts [UD89]
[7] Government bill amending the Renewable Energy Sources Act and certain other acts [UD41]
[8] Government bill amending the Act on Emergency Measures to Limit the Level of Electricity Prices and on Support for Certain Consumers in 2023 and 2024 and certain other acts [UD164]
[9] Government bill amending the Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management and certain other acts [UD45]
[10] Act of 13 July 2023 amending the Act on Packaging and Packaging Waste Management and certain other acts (Journal of Laws of 2023, item 1852)
