The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) last year committed a record €1.3 billion to Poland, which was the third-biggest recipient of the bank’s investments behind Turkey and Ukraine.
Three quarters of that amount has been allocated to green projects as the bank seeks to support Poland, one of Europe’s most coal-dependent countries, in its planned energy transition.
In 2023, the bank was involved in 32 projects in Poland, to which it committed €1.3 billion, up from €990 million in 2022 and the country’s highest-ever annual figure.
Among the 38 countries and regions the EBRD supports, the only ones to receive more in 2023 were Turkey (€2.5 billion), which was coping with the consequences of the deadly earthquake, and Ukraine (€2 billion), which is in the midst of a full-scale war with Russia.
One of the largest projects in which EBRD invested in Poland last year was the planned construction of Poland’s first offshore wind farm, to which the bank contributed €140 million.
The investment, which is one of several Polish renewables projects the bank is involved with, will add more than 1.3 GW to Poland’s energy capacity in the short to medium term.
State energy giant Orlen has secured €3.6bn in loans from 25 financial institutions – including the @EBRD and @EIB – to build Poland's first offshore wind farm https://t.co/Pa9vViR6Ig
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) September 21, 2023
The bank also committed €75 million to renewable energy developer R.Power, as well as €50 million to banking technology provider Vodeno and €25 million Polish pharmaceutical company Pelion.
The EBRD says it plans to maintain its focus on green technology in Poland, especially renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, green city initiatives and innovative technologies. However, in accordance with its own rules, the bank will not invest in nuclear power projects other than those focused on nuclear safety.
Poland still produces around two thirds of its power from coal. But, under plans adopted by the previous government last year, it wants three quarters of electricity to come from nuclear and renewables by 2040. Last year, it produced a record 26% of power from renewables.
Renewables generated a record 26% of Poland’s electricity in 2023, up from 19% the previous year.
However, coal continued to produce most of the country’s power, accounting for almost two thirds of the energy mix https://t.co/JQqfMkOK4I
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 3, 2024
Correction: this article originally stated that two thirds of the EBRD’s investment in Poland was devoted to green projects. In fact, the figure is three quarters.
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Main image credit: European Bank for Reconstruction/Flickr (under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
