Climate Lobbying Overview: Polska Grupa Energetyczna (PGE Group) appears to be mostly negatively and actively engaged on climate change policy. PGE Group has engaged negatively on the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) and against higher ambition in the EU’s 2030 GHG emission reduction target. The company has actively opposed a rapid phase-out of coal in Europe.

Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: PGE Group appears to take mixed positions on climate policy in its top-line communications. In April 2022, PGE Group’s CEO Wojciech Dąbrowski advocated to Polish media outlet Biznes Alert for the EU Fit for 55 climate package to weaken ambitions to make it more suitable for member state capabilities. Dąbrowski previously labelled the EU’s Fit for 55 climate package as unrealistic and counterproductive, and suggested it will contribute to energy poverty in media interviews in September and October 2021. In July 2021, Dąbrowski, appeared to emphasize concerns of economic viability and energy poverty against support for the EU’s 2050 carbon neutrality target in news outlet Euractiv. However, PGE Group expressed some support for the transition to a net-zero emissions economy, and also indicated support for the UN Paris Agreement.

Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: PGE Group appears to be broadly unsupportive of EU climate policy and regulation. The company has consistently advocated against EU ETS reforms and highlighted concerns with high carbon prices, including by CEO Dąbrowski in an EU Observer opinion piece in June 2022, and on social media in January 2022. In a November 2021 EU public consultation response, it advocated against EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) reforms, as it stated reforms to increase the Linear Reduction Factor and strengthen the Market Stability Reserve would further increase CO2 prices, and did not support raising the 2030 emission reduction target for ETS sectors. Furthermore, in a February 2021 EU public consultation response, PGE Group appeared unsupportive of a reduction in free allowances in the scheme, and advocated against extending the ETS to more sectors. In March 2020, PGE Group opposed an increase in the ambition of the EU’s GHG target to a 50-55% emissions reduction by 2030.

PGE Group’s engagement on the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (RED) has been mixed. Media outlet Euractiv suggested in March 2022 that PGE Group advocated for the inclusion of fossil gas technologies, specifically cogeneration systems, in the RED revision. In its November 2021 public consultation response, the company stated support for a higher 2030 renewable energy target. However, PGE Group advocated against a strengthening of the bioenergy sustainability criteria and did not support a change to nationally binding targets. PGE Group also advocated for fossil gas technologies, including gas boilers and combined heat and power (CHP) generation to be included in the EU Energy Efficiency Directive in Euractiv in March 2022, and in the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in March 2022 feedback comments. PGE also supported weakening the EU Methane Regulation for the energy sector, advocating against reporting obligations and emphasizing financial burdens of abatement measures.

Positioning on the Energy Transition: PGE Group does not seem to support the energy transition. PGE Group has consistently promoted the role of unabated fossil gas, including in a March 2022 press release, to diversify from Russian gas imports, and CEO Dąbrowski stated that the Fit for 55 package provided insufficient support for unabated fossil gas in the heating sector in April 2022. Furthermore, the company supported a weakening of the EU Commission's proposal for the sustainable finance taxonomy by including fossil gas in a December 2020 legislative consultation response. In a July 2020 Euractiv opinion piece, PGE Group stressed that the energy transition should be “gradual” to avoid stranded assets and investment uncertainty in projects, such as its Turow coal mine. In a May 2021 press release, the company CEO, Dąbrowski, opposed the Court of Justice of the European Union's decision to close operations at Turow coal mine.

Industry Association Governance: PGE Group has disclosed a list of its memberships to industry associations in its 2020 Integrated Report, published in August 2021, but this disclosure has limited further details on their climate positions or influencing activities. The company has not published a review of its alignment with its industry associations. PGE Group is a member of Eurelectric and WindEurope, which both have broadly positive engagement with climate policy. The company is also a member of Eurogas, which has mixed engagement with European climate policy, and campaigns for the long-term role for fossil gas in the EU energy mix.

InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically. This summary was last updated in Q1 2023.

Additional Note: PGE Group is a listed company with more than 50% of its shares owned by the government of Poland. State-owned enterprises likely retain channels of direct and private engagement with government officials that InfluenceMap is unable to assess, and therefore are not represented in PGE Group's engagement intensity metric.