Energy transition – because the world has no choice, but it does have a chance
Why do people need energy transition? As it turns out, there are many reasons – and although this process is a problem for many countries, it also offers a number of extremely attractive opportunities.
The energy transition away from fossil fuels to clean technologies is not a fad among environmentalists, but a necessity—not only to save the climate and the environment, but also to keep our country among the developed nations.
Climate change is most often cited as the main reason for the energy transition. There is a lot of truth in this: the current rate of global warming is like a express train to hell – changes are happening 30–50 times faster than ever before in the history of the Earth. Greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced and they must be reduced quickly.
That is why virtually all of the world’s major economies are investing billions in nuclear, wind, and solar power. In 2024, global spending on the transition exceeded $2 trillion. Because times when things were cheap are over and the cost of doing nothing may be catastrophic.
The second reason is money. Poland is the only country that subsidizes its ageing coal sector with billions of zlotys every year or PLN 1 million per hour. At the same time, it pays a hefty bill for fuel imports: PLN 1.7 trillion since 2000.
Transformation is an opportunity to reverse this trend and create more jobs, reduce import dependency, and attract better investments and develop certain industries, such as photovoltaics, energy storage, offshore, and nuclear power.
The third thing is health. The energy transition means cleaner air. Today, 40,000 Poles die prematurely every year because of smog. By moving away from coal combustion, we are reducing emissions of dust and toxins. This means fewer heart attacks, fewer cancers, and fewer breathing problems.
The world is changing before our very eyes. The question is no longer “if,” but “how quickly and with whom.” Because whoever misses the transformation will be left behind.
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