Industrial plants in Poland emitted more than 56 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022, while the entire Polish economy produced more than 300 million tonnes of CO2. Next to the energy industry, this was the most important source of greenhouse gas emissions. The top ten most emitting companies are representatives of just five industry sectors. A new industrial emissions database prepared by Instrat, a Warsaw-based think tank, shows how much pollution and CO2 is emitted by all plants in Poland legally required to report emissions.
Energy-intensive industries under scrutiny
All of the 10 capital groups ranked as the largest CO2 emitters operate in just five industry sectors: paper production, oil refining and coke production, chemicals and chemical products production, cement, lime, gypsum production, and metals production. The top five emitters, including Orlen Group, Azoty Group, ArcelorMittal, Heidelberg Cement, and CRH Group, account for almost 50% of Poland’s total industrial CO2 emissions.
Instrat’s economist and co-author of the database Michał Kulbacki emphasizes the importance of transforming these sectors for the future of the Polish economy: The manufacturing industry is responsible for around one-fifth of the carbon dioxide emissions from the Polish economy.The conclusions of the database developed by Instrat show that the largest emitters are concentrated in just five industry sectors, which is not necessarily bad news. It is a clear signal that the government should assist these sectors in decarbonizing as quickly as possible. Significant emission reductions from these five sectors will mean success in decarbonising the Polish industry.
The oil refinery in Płock, owned by Orlen, is the most emission-intensive industrial plant in Poland. It emitted more than 7.5 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022. In addition to the sectors mentioned above, the most emitting companies in Poland are involved in the production of food, beverages, furniture, rubber products, mainly tyres, and fabricated metal products. Among the top 50 emitters – which account for 20% of the economy’s CO2 emissions – are also multinational corporations that are not traditionally associated with significant emissions. Other top emitters include LG (0.11 million tonnes of CO2 in 2022), Heineken (0.07 million tonnes), Ikea (0.06 million tonnes), Ferrero (0.04 million tonnes), Mars (0.03 million tonnes) and Coca-Cola (0.02 million tonnes).
Emission trends: who’s up, who’s down?
Of the top five CO2 emitters in Poland, only ArcelorMittal has reduced its emissions over the past 12 years, achieving a 42% reduction. This was the result of, among other things, the closure of the blast furnace in Kraków and investments in improving the energy efficiency of the steelworks in Dąbrowa Górnicza. Other companies on this list did not reduce their emissions – on the contrary, in some cases, their emissions increased significantly. Emissions increased most strongly in the case of Orlen Group (by 56%), influenced primarily by the significant increase in crude oil processed. Due to the methodology adopted for aggregating emissions, their increase is not due to the 2022 acquisition of Lotos Group. A large increase also occurred in the case of Heidelberg Cement, owner of Cementownia Górażdże (by 51%). This was the effect of a very large expansion of this plant and a substantial increase in production volumes in the period under review.
Southern Poland’s emission hotspots
Almost ⅔ of the 30 biggest emitting industry plants are located in southern Poland due to proximity to raw material deposits and established industrial infrastructure. These include cement plants located in the so-called Cement Belt, stretching from the Opolskie Voivodeship to the Lubelskie Voivodeship. There are also steelworks located in the south, which in the future may have to relocate to the northern regions of Poland. The reason for this will be the greater availability of clean energy in the north of the country from the nuclear plants and offshore wind farms, which we wrote about in the report Decarbonisation of energy-intensive industries in context. Decarbonization efforts will be most challenging for southern Poland, necessitating special government attention and initiatives, including the Ministry of Industry established recently in Silesia.
Beyond CO2
In addition to CO2, the database includes data on other pollutants like nitrogen oxides and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), highlighting both greenhouse gasses and harmful pollutants affecting air quality. Some of these are greenhouse gasses and some are harmful to human health, so the database also shows the impact on air quality, which is essential information for citizens in regions where plants are operating.
The most considerable quantities of nitrogen oxides (one of the most air-polluting gasses) are emitted by: Azoty Group (7 thousand tonnes in 2022), Orlen Group (5.7 thousand tonnes), ArcelorMittal (5.2 thousand tonnes), HeidelbergCement (3.3 thousand tonnes) and JSW (2.7 thousand tonnes). Benzopyrene, which is not a greenhouse gas but has a negative impact on human health, is mainly emitted by food entities. Among the companies on the list of the largest CO2 emitters, this sector accounted for more than half of BaP emissions, and the largest emitter was the Polish Food Group with emissions of 83 kg in 2022.
