Hundreds of miners demonstrated in Warsaw in front of the office of the European Commission. They want to show that they do not agree with the regulation on methane, which is being prepared in the European Parliament. The organizer of the demonstration is the Free Trade Union Sierpień 80, according to the Polish edition of Money. The European Parliament is currently debating a so-called resolution to regulate emissions of methane, the odorless gas that accompanies coal mining. According to scientists, it contributes to the greenhouse effect about 28 times more than carbon dioxide. “The entry into force of the methane regulation prepared by the EU means the end of the Polish mining industry,” the union said.
According to the protesters, the ill-conceived climate policy of European bureaucrats will lead to the liquidation of almost all Polish mines by 2031. “Tens of thousands of jobs that support your families will be destroyed. Silesia faces a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. All Poles are in a disaster. The mines condemn us to expensive imported coal or even more expensive gas,” he added. protest organizers said.
The aforementioned decree provides that the EU will introduce a limit for methane emissions from 2027 – 5 tonnes per 1,000 tonnes of extracted coal, excluding coking, and from 2031 – 3 tonnes of gas per 1,000 tonnes of coal . If the standards are exceeded, financial penalties are provided for. In Brussels, they specified that they would be “hard and tough” and “adequate to the level of the act committed”. The state mining company Polska Grupa Górnicza estimates that it will have to pay fines of around 1.5 billion złoty (around $350 million) per year. Restrictive rules will force mines to close earlier.
