Evaluating the Polish White Certificate scheme

As one of many EU Member States, Poland introduced an Energy Efficiency Obligation (EEO) in 2012 to deliver its energy efficiency targets under Article 7 of the EU's Energy Efficiency Directive. The Polish EEO includes White Certificate trading as a key element making it one of the few EEOs in the world that include this feature. For the first time since its inception, this paper provides a systematic evaluation of the Polish EEO. After initial difficulties in the period 2012-mid-2016, the EEO has been fundamentally redesigned. The paper compiles a database of the 4620 projects delivered, compares the two periods of the EEO critically reviewing the rules of operation during the two periods, assessing the types of measures delivered and in which sectors, and estimating the energy savings as well as the costs of the EEO. We present a number of policy recommendations for improving the EEO derived from an assessment of the current programme architecture. The analysis shows that present levels of energy savings are insufficient to achieve the EU energy efficiency targets for 2014-2020 and post-2020. The paper also identifies a number of lessons learned that are applicable to countries considering the introduction or redesign of an EEO.