The European Commission has announced it will begin work in the first quarter of 2026 on a strategy for heating and cooling. The Polish government is also working on this strategic document in the heating sector. Industry experts emphasize that both strategies will be crucial for the ongoing transformation of heating systems—defining the future of massive investments awaiting the sector until 2050. At the same time, they call for greater public financial support for this process.
District heating plays a key role in meeting heat demand in Poland. Its coverage reaches 52.2% of households, serving nearly 70% of city residents. According to data from the Energy Regulatory Office (URE), coal dominates the fuel structure used in heating at 61.2%, although this share is gradually decreasing. Meanwhile, the share of gas fuels rose to 13% in 2023, and renewable energy sources (RES) reached 14.4%.
“In Poland, work is currently underway to update the National Energy and Climate Plan and to create a heating strategy. From a regulatory perspective, these are key documents in which, as an industry, we call for recognition of the specific nature of our sector by rationally addressing the targets the industry should achieve in the coming years, providing a realistic timeline for their implementation, and defining tools that will effectively and timely support the execution of this energy policy,” said Marcin Laskowski, Vice President of the Polish District Heating Association (PTEC) and Vice President of PGE Polska Grupa Energetyczna, in an interview with Newseria.
In May this year, the Ministry of Climate and Environment announced the development of a plan for systemic actions that will set the direction for the transformation of heating in Poland. This sector accounts for about one-third of Poland’s primary energy consumption and generates one-fifth of its CO2 emissions. Therefore, one of the main assumptions of the “Heating Transformation Strategy until 2040” is the transition to zero-emission technologies such as heat pumps, solar collectors, and electrode boilers, as well as improving energy efficiency through network modernization, waste heat utilization, and building thermomodernization. The strategy also envisions integrating the power generation and heating sectors, including using surplus electricity from renewables for heat production and employing cogeneration units for local energy balancing.
“The regulations we have been focusing on in recent months are addressed to the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Energy Regulatory Office regarding heat tariffing, so that we can make the sector profitable. The necessity of actions in this area is highlighted by the 2023 report from the President of URE,” Laskowski emphasized. “What we emphasize is primarily maintaining a separate tariff for high-efficiency cogeneration, as well as modifying the cost tariff to stimulate financing organizations to engage with investors, enabling financing and ensuring ongoing funds for the development of the heating sector.”
PTEC’s calculations indicate that the green transformation of the Polish heating sector will require investment expenditures of between 300 and 500 billion PLN by 2050, depending on the scenario adopted.
“These are considerable amounts, which is why the industry is calling for increased aid funds for the transformation. That is the first and very important demand. Another is increasing the intensity of public aid. For example, in the context of the GBER regulation, we propose increasing this intensity to 60%, as well as raising the notification threshold for heating projects to 100 million euros. But that is not all. Currently, the primary strategic instrument for financing the heating transformation is the Modernization Fund, and here we would like it to remain accessible to the heating sector beyond 2030,” the PTEC vice president stated.
The reform of the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) is also crucial for the Polish heating sector. Available analyses suggest that under the current parameters, emission allowances in the primary ETS market will be depleted by the late 2030s. In sensitive sectors like heating, the industry representatives believe the free allocation of emission allowances should continue beyond 2030 to avoid burdening heat consumers.
“I would add that from the perspective of adopting new technologies, it is necessary to develop and create additional support programs from aid funds currently managed by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. These could support technologies such as heat storage, treated as separate projects, and electrode boilers, as well as continuing financial support for high-efficiency cogeneration,” said Marcin Laskowski.
Heat production in cogeneration plants, whereby district heating systems supply cities not only with heat but also electricity, is a distinctive feature of Polish heating. Last year, cogeneration sources accounted for about 62% of total heat production in heating systems. Professional and industrial combined heat and power plants produced around 27 TWh of electricity, approximately 16% of Poland’s total electricity production. According to PTEC calculations, the combined use of heat pumps, electrode boilers (Power to Heat technology), and cogeneration achieves the lowest variable heat production costs. The variable cost of heat generation with optimal operation of cogeneration units and Power to Heat technology was 30 PLN/GJ. This value was 16% higher for coal-based systems and 143% higher for variants without cogeneration.
“In Q1 2026, the European Commission announced it would publish the EU Heating and Cooling Strategy. As an industry, we will strongly advocate for recognition of the specific nature of the Polish heating sector — considering our geographic location, climatic conditions, and the technologies on which our system has been built over recent years,” stated PTEC’s vice president.
He pointed out that the upcoming EU heating and cooling strategy will significantly influence the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), which defines efficient heating systems. The directive sets a target to reduce energy consumption in the EU by 11.7% by 2030 compared to the 2020 reference scenario. It also establishes new annual energy savings obligations for member states, starting at at least 0.8% of final energy consumption in 2023, rising to 1.3% and 1.5% in 2024–2026, and reaching 1.9% in 2028. The Polish industry has revision demands mainly focused on extending the use of high-efficiency cogeneration through 2050, which would affect the system’s ability to meet the definition of efficiency through such sources.
“We also have a key sector demand to increase renewable heat generation in the system. We believe that heat produced in electrode boilers powered by renewable electricity should be quickly classified as renewable heat, which will support heating systems in meeting the efficiency definition,” explained Marcin Laskowski.
He emphasized that the industry has similar demands regarding the connection process of installations like electrode boilers and heat pumps to power grids. The sector calls for simplified procedures to streamline and accelerate these connections. Experts believe that integrating the power generation and district heating sectors — the so-called sector coupling — is currently one of the key directions in Poland’s energy transformation.
“We must understand that there are no longer two separate systems — heating and power. Today, we have one large energy system, where heating supports power generation and vice versa. This benefits end consumers by enabling more efficient use of energy produced in these sources, ultimately leading to more optimal and rational electricity and heat prices for end users,” emphasized the PTEC vice president.
