Polish food firms seen unlikely to heed emissions warning
industry, by reducing the country's proposed allowance for carbon
dioxide emissions. Yet one food sector representative believes many
'rogue' firms across Poland will simply add emissions to the list
of regulations they already ignore, writes Chris Mercer.
The European Commission has set Poland's limit for carbon dioxide emissions between 2005 and 2007 at 717 million tons, a reduction of 141 million tons on the emissions cap proposed by the Polish government in its National Allocations Plan last year.
The Commission, which is responsible for endorsing and amending emissions plans put forward by all member states as part of the EU emissions trading scheme, said the original Polish plan had "exceeded projected emissions and contravened several criteria of the Emissions Trading Directive".
Poland's carbon dioxide emissions, which fell by around 32 per cent to 317 million tons between 1988 and 2001, have been gradually increasing again on the back of greater economic development, and are projected to hit 363 million tons by 2005.
The country has also recorded a threefold increase in emissions of fluorinated gases since 2001. These gases, used widely in refrigeration, are thought to have a global warming potential more than 24,000 times higher than carbon dioxide.
The Polish government claimed in its allocation plan that Poland had a 'reserve' of about 30 per cent (around 130 million tons) of the carbon dioxide emissions cap set by the Kyoto Protocol from 2008-2012.
But, the tighter restrictions now imposed by the EU mean that a lot of this reserve could be wiped out, leaving companies with little room to spare.
Jeerzy Majchrzak, managing director at Polish meat processor Sokolow, was confident that his company's position would be "quite comfortable" as regards emissions targets over the next few years.
Yet, he said the food industry would be put under pressure by 'gangster' firms, which would likely ignore emissions caps as they had ignored other regulations.
Majchrzak estimated that in some food sectors as much as 30 to 35 per cent of products were made by companies with scant regard for EU and Polish government rules and standards. "I expect that the next few years will bring a visible reduction in this figure, but for the time being we have a problem," he said.
"The producers on the market who have observed EU standards from the beginning will almost always be the producers who will observe these new standards on emissions. I hope that more inspections by EU officials will serve to diminish this problem," added Majchrzak.
Poland's inclusion in the EU's emissions trading scheme, once it has made the necessary changes to its allocation plan, means that industries will at least have some leeway on their carbon dioxide output.
The scheme allows companies that exceed their carbon dioxide caps to buy emission rights from other participating EU firms that end up below their quotas. Each 'right' allows a firm to emit one ton of greenhouse gases.
Poland is the biggest of the 10 EU accession countries to take part in the scheme and has the fourth biggest allocation plan across the EU-25. Only the Czech Republic, Greece and Italy have not yet had their allocation plans approved by the Commission, though the UK has also been scrapping with the EU over its allocation scheme.
