Poland Leads Coalition to Push Pragmatic EU ETS Reform Ahead of Commission Proposal

Poland is coordinating a coalition of up to twelve EU member states—including Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Lithuania, Latvia, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary and Italy—to seek a more pragmatic revision of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) before the European Commission presents its formal proposal on 17 July. The group plans to submit a joint letter urging the Commission to slow the annual reduction of emission allowances, raise the share of free permits for industry, and adjust benchmark calculations. Poland’s climate deputy minister Krzysztof Bolesta said, “Jeszcze w tym tygodniu zaprezentujemy kolejny list dużej grupy państw nawołujący do pragmatycznej rewizji EU ETS i powrotu do rozmowy o zasadności ETS2.”

The coalition’s core demands include lowering the Linear Reduction Factor from the current 4.4 % to roughly 2 % to extend the overall allowance pool to around 2050, maintaining free allocations for energy‑intensive sectors, and extending the Modernisation Fund beyond 2030 with increased budget. A letter signed by ten countries (Poland, Italy, Greece, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Estonia) was obtained by RMF FM two days before the Commission’s reform launch, warning that a harsher ETS could push industry out of the EU.

Other commentators, such as former EU energy official Samuel Furfari, have called for the complete abolition of the ETS, but the primary story centers on Poland’s effort to shape the reform toward protecting European industry while still meeting climate objectives.