Global, European, and Polish dilemmas of development policy towards climate change – an attempt to systematize them

Abstract

The presented text focuses on identifying the topics of the political dispute at the global level, the European Union and Poland, which relate to the mitigation of climate change. The background of the analysis is a synthetic presentation of the state of knowledge on climate change and examples of different views on this issue that reach the public in the open debate. We confronted arguments put forward by climate activists with views questioning the climate action.

The analysis of arguments in the global debate shows that the differences mainly reflect the economic status of states, their energy mix, and technological advancement. The main lines of dispute in global negotiations are: which states should make more effort for greenhouse gas emission reductions, the responsibility of developed countries for historical emissions, and the principles of supporting developing countries, which are particularly vulnerable to climate change.

The European Union wants to be a leader in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate neutrality. However, there are differences in approach between the Member States, which reflect the importance of coal in the energy mix, the differences in the share of renewable energy, and the importance of nuclear energy. The main controversy is how to consider the different initial situations of countries when defining their reduction targets and how to support the energy transition.

The dominant issue in the Polish debate is the necessary pace of the energy transformation, the possibility of bearing its costs, and their distribution among various social groups.

This paper presents the social, economic, and political arguments at the global and local level that refer to the dilemmas of climate policy leading to the adjustment of the development policy towards energy-saving and low-emission, regardless of the importance assigned to emissions in combating climate change.