Poland

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and ORLEN Group, Poland’s largest energy company, signed a PLN 900 million loan agreement for projects supporting energy transition. The funds will be used to invest in strengthening and expanding the power grid of Energa, a distribution system operator majority owned by ORLEN. This new EIB support will help modernise electricity distribution in northern and central Poland, as well as allowing to connect more renewable energy sources (RES). The loan comes as the first under a total of PLN 3.5 billion in financing approved by the EIB to boost Energa’s network in 2024-25.

An overwhelming majority of people in Poland believe it is important for their country to adapt to climate change, according to the annual Climate Survey commissioned by the European Investment Bank (EIB). The seventh edition of the survey also shows that nearly eight in ten Polish respondents expect to adapt their lifestyles to climate change. That figure stands above EU average and is driven by a more widespread first-hand experience of extreme weather conditions like droughts, severe storms and floods in Poland, compared to some other EU countries. Moreover, most Poles believe that investing in climate adaptation is needed now to prevent the toll of extreme weather events from rising. That comes despite the fact that they rank climate change as only the seventh-biggest challenge facing Poland, with costs of living and security threats related to Russia’s war in Ukraine topping the list.

The Polish government has contributed €25 million to a European Investment Bank (EIB) fund dedicated to the reconstruction of Ukraine following Russia’s full-scale military invasion in 2022. The agreement between the EIB and Poland increases the size of the EU for Ukraine Fund to €398.35 million.