STRATEGIA WODOROWA POLSKI I UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ W CZASIE KRYZYSU ENERGETYCZNEGO, SPOWODOWANEGO AGRESJĄ ROSJI NA UKRAINĘ
THE HYDROGEN STRATEGY OF POLAND AND THE EUROPEAN UNION DURING THE ENERGY CRISIS CAUSED BY RUSSIA'S AGGRESSION AGAINST UKRAINE

Summary/Abstract: The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine has accelerated the energy transition in European Union countries, not only because of the embargo on Russian fossil fuels but, more importantly, because the rules for exporting fossil fuels have been reoriented, and thanks to the joint policy of NATO and EU member states, multi-stage sanctions have been imposed on the Russian economy. Since August 2022, coal from Russia can no longer be imported into the European Union. This article attempts to outline issues related to the search for alternatives to fossil fuels in all sectors of the economy. The direction of this search points towards the choice of "green energy", i.e. hydrogen, which, due to its potentially wide application, is already beginning to be treated as an instrument of emission neutrality. A significant number of EU countries have decided that by 2050 they will achieve emission neutrality, which means the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by around 95% compared to the baseline year of 1990. Achieving emission neutrality will, however, require highly advanced elimination of emissions not only in the power industry but also in other sectors (including industry, transport and heating), which is why Poland, like other EU countries, is looking for alternatives to fossil fuels in all sectors of the economy. A month into the war, UN Secretary-General António Guterres stated that it would be madness if, during the war and sanctions against Russia, all the efforts made so far to reduce dependence on fossil fuels were squandered, and he called for accelerating the implementation of the technologies and policies necessary for the transition to low-emission energy systems.

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