Webinar: 2025 - the most important year for Polish LPG?

At the beginning, Bartosz Kwiatkowski, General Director of POGP, presented the external context of events that will affect the Polish LPG sector in the coming years. The market is facing a series of planned legal changes as a consequence of the implementation of the political strategy of the European Green Deal, which was supposed to give the European Union a new identity and transform it “into a fair and prosperous society living in a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy that will achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and within which economic growth will be achieved. will be separated from the use of natural resources. (...) The aim of the [Green Deal] is also to protect, preserve and improve the EU's natural capital and the protection of the health and well-being of citizens against environmental risks and adverse effects.”

The Russian invasion of Ukraine reminded of the neglected aspect of energy security in the Union's energy policy. The energy crisis of 2022 and the subsequent sanctions imposed on Russian energy carriers have contributed to an increase in the burden on the citizens of the Union. Today, in the context of the rising cost of living for Europeans, including an increase in the proportion of EU27 citizens who declare that they cannot afford to provide thermal comfort for their homes, Member State governments are beginning to realise the political costs of too rapid an energy transition affecting citizens directly. European elections will be held in 2024which are likely to result in a different composition of the European Parliament, more conservative and more cautious in terms of the pace of transition, and Poland will hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2025.

Important changes ahead of the LPG sector, including in particular:

• the inclusion of the transport (autogas) and municipal heating sectors in the emissions trading system, as well as the obligations to monitor and report CO emissions₂;
• implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which will bring new conditions for newly built residential buildings, and a new regulation on ecodesign and energy labelling, which will tighten the seasonal efficiency requirements for boilers.

Many of the planned legal acts are still under negotiation, but there is still time to influence the shape of their implementation. In 2025, we will know all the most important decisions about the future of the LPG market in Europe.

In the context of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the future of energy imports from Russia remains unclear.

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In the second part of the event, Bartek Lachowski, project manager of the European Liquefied Gas Congress at Liquid Gas Europe - the European LPG association - presented the model of the event, which will take place in Poland in 2025. European Liquefied Gas Congress is the largest industry event in Europe, comparable in scale to the global LPG Week. The congress is annually held in another of the European countries - after the abolition of epidemic restrictions in 2022, it was held in Barcelona, where 100 companies and 1400 guests appeared. In November 2023 in Rome, the Congress will be held jointly with LPG Week, organized by the World LPG Association, in 2024 - in a new, improved format, taking into account the requests of exhibitors - in Lyon, France, and in 2025 the event will go to Poland.

In the coming weeks, Liquid Gas Europe will announce which of the Polish cities will receive the privilege of organizing the Congress. Importantly, representatives of the liquefied gas industry will come to Poland in the spring of 2025, when the Polish government will have the tools to shape the agenda of the Council of the European Union. Never before has the Polish LPG industry had such an exposure, which is why the Polish Liquefied Gas Organization will support Liquid Gas Europe so that Polish companies get the best possible platform to present their competences. POGP hopes that the Polish administration will join our activities.

Bartek Lachowski briefly presented models of cooperation with the organizers of the Congress and encouraged participants to contact them about the Congress being prepared.

Anyone interested, including those who could not attend the live webinar, is invited to view the recording on POGP's Youtube channel.

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