DEVELOPMENT OF THE HYDROGEN ECONOMY IN POLAND AND THE EUROPEAN UNION AS AN INSTRUMENT OF EMISSION NEUTRALITY AT A TIME OF ENERGY CRISIS

The armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused an accelerated energy transformationin the countries of the European Union. That has happened not only because of the Russian fossilfuel embargo but, more importantly, the reorientation of fossil fuel export rules and, thanks tothe common policy of NATO and EU member states, the imposition of multiple sanctions onthe Russian economy, which appear to be the most effective way to cut off the aggressor from thefunds necessary to finance equipment and weapons. As of August 2022, coal from Russia cannotbe imported to the European Union; the embargo on energy carriers is part of the sanctions withwhich the EU wants to persuade Russia to end the war with Ukraine.This article attempts to present issues related to the search for alternatives to fossil fuels in allsectors of the economy. The direction of the search is to choose “green energy”, i.e. hydrogen,which, due to its potential broad application, is already starting to be treated as an instrumentof emission neutrality. A significant number of EU countries have decided to achieve emissionneutrality by 2050, which means the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately95% as compared to the baseline year of 1990. Achieving carbon emission neutrality, however,will oblige the EU countries involved in the project to be highly technologically advancedin eliminating emissions not only in the electricity sector, but also in other sectors (includingindustry, transport and heating sectors). These areas still function thanks to fossil fuel emissions(coal, oil and natural gas), the direct substitution of which by electricity from RES is impossible,for which reason Poland, as well as the rest of the European Union, is looking for alternatives tofossil fuels in all sectors of the economy.The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres (publication of March 23,2022) stated that it would be folly to undo now (during a time of war and sanctions againstRussia) all previous efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and appealed to accelerate theimplementation of technologies and policies necessary for the transition to low-emission energysystems (Walewska, 2022). This view, of course, first of all concerns the end of hostilities in Ukraineand the withdrawal of Russian troops and the implementation of the climate package agreed in Glasgow, at the UN COP26 climate conference, which took place from October 31 to November 13, 2021 (https://ukcop26.org/).