Poland on the way to SDGs. Report 2025

In the European Union, electricity is mainly generated from renewable energy sources (43%), nuclear energy (23%), gas fuels (17%) and solid fossil fuels (12%). The degree to which each of these sources is used varies from country to country. For example, in Denmark, Latvia and Austria, over 75% of energy is generated from renewable sources, in France and Slovakia nuclear energy dominates (over 60%), in Malta natural gas prevail (approx. 85%), and in Cyprus the main source is oil (approx. 80%). Poland is the only EU country where solid fossil fuels (hard coal and lignite) remain the dominant source of energy, although their share in the total electricity production fell from 80% in 2015 to 60% in 2023. Meanwhile, energy production from renewable sources doubled (from 13% to 27%), mainly due to the growing use of solar energy (increase from 0.03% to 7%) and wind energy (up from 7% to 14%). Photovoltaics (energy production from the sun) is developing dynamically and has become the fastest-growing branch of renewable energy sources in Poland. Small photovoltaic installations, producing electricity for e.g. households and small businesses, started playing an increasingly important role. According to the Energy Regulatory Office, the number of such installations exceeded 1.5 million at the end of 2024, compared to only 51,000 in 2018. The structure of photovoltaic installations in Poland is gradually changing – the number of larger industrial installations is on the rise, although micro-installations for prosumers still account for over 70% of all photovoltaic installations.

Although renewable energy sources are playing an increasingly important role in the Polish energy system, their share in the gross final energy consumption – which includes not only electricity, but also heating, cooling and transport – remains relatively low. Between 2015 and 2023, it increased from 11.9% to 16.6%. Nevertheless, this is still below the EU average of 24.6%. Poland, alongside Luxembourg, Belgium, Malta and Ireland, is one of the EU countries with the lowest level of renewable energy use. According to the EU directive1, which sets a target share of energy from renewable sources in gross final energy consumption for each country, Poland is expected to reach the level of 42.5% by 2030. In 2023, unlike in previous years, the sector that used renewable energy sources to the largest extent in Poland was the power industry (as in the EU as a whole). Nearly 26% of energy consumed in this sector came from RES, i.e. almost twice as much as in 2015. The use of renewable energy sources also increased in the heating and cooling sector (from 14.8% in 2015 to 20.4%). The smallest amount of energy from renewable sources continues to be used in transport, where for years it approximated 6.0%. In the EU it is 10.8% and is higher than in 2015 (6.8%). According to the EU directive, by 2030 each member state should be using at least 14% of energy from RES in their transport.

¹ Directive (EU) 2023/2413 of 18 October 2023 on the promotion of energy from renewable sources.

The energy intensity of the Polish economy is steadily decreasing, which means that less and less energy is necessary to generate a unit of GDP. Despite this progress, Poland still uses energy slightly less efficiently than is the EU average. One kilogram of oil equivalent allows Poland to generate GDP worth nearly 12 PPS1 (in 2015 it was less than 8 PPS), while the EU average is 13 PPS (compared to over 8 PPS in 2015).

The Polish economy consumes between 60 and 74 million tonnes of energy per year, expressed in tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Energy consumption per capita remains slightly lower than the EU average. Transport is Poland’s most energy-intensive sector, likewise in the whole EU. It uses 34% of Poland’s total final energy and is the only sector whose share in the energy consumption has increased compared to 2015 (from 27%). Households are slightly less energy-intensive, consuming 29% of energy (compared to 31% in 2015). Poland has a higher share of energy consumption by transport and households than the EU average, and a slightly lower by industry and services.

² The PPS is a common artificial currency adopted in the EU for the purpose of international comparisons, which makes it possible to eliminate any differences between countries.