EIT InnoEnergy online meeting “The Polish Recovery Plan and the European Green Deal”

Last week, the Polish Government unveiled the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The plan is to help rebuild the economy after the crisis related to the coronavirus pandemic and make it future-proof. The preparation of the plan is a condition for using money from the European Reconstruction Fund. The fund's total budget is EUR 750 billion and Poland can count on EUR 57 billion of EU support.

The aim of today’s meeting organized by EIT InnoEnergy was to discuss the alignment of the Polish Recovery Plan with the European Green Deal, decarbonisation and energy transition objectives. The event took place with the participation of Polish Ministerstwo Klimatu i Środowiska and Ministerstwo Funduszy i Polityki Regionalnej as well as the Commissioners from European Commission and the representatives of the European Parliament. The discussion was moderated by Marcin Korolec, member of EIT InnoEnergy Supervisory Board, and Former State Secretary for Climate Policy.

During the event the participants had a chance to take a closer look at the examples of Polish innovative solutions supported by EIT InnoEnergy contributing to the energy transition:

• Sunroof represented by Lech Kaniuk and Emilia Paszkowska,
• The Batteries represented by Jacek Błoński, 
• EcoBean represented by Marcin Koziorowski and Kcper Kossowski.

The webinar participants agreed that the bootom-up approach is appropriate, and examples of presented startups show that the solutions are ready, and the focus should be put on their implementations.

"Zero carbon economy is not anymore a dream we chase, but a concrete political commitment: from EU by 2050, from China by 2060 and taking into account the recent change of the US administration, I would expect a similar announcement coming from there soon", commented Jakub Miler, CEO of EIT InnoEnergy Central Europe. "These are the new rules of the game. For Poland to follow that path is not an ‘eco-extravagance’, but a harsh necessity to keep the economy competitive and simply stay in the business", he added.

“The Recovery Plan is a great foundation for Polish XXI-century economy”, complemented Marcin Korolec summarizing the event.