I. Introduction
Administrative law is public law, which means that it is aimed at achieving public goals and other socially acceptable values. It regulates the functioning of the administration, which is supposed to work for the common good, the core value of administrative law 1. The common good is universal, and therefore applies to every human being. The common good sets an essential reference point for all public administration activity, which even becomes its defining element 2. ‘The concept of the common good is a concept that aggregates at the level of the entire system of applicable law all constitutionally and statutory values, for the implementation of which the law provides’ 3. In this context, the task of the state and its administrative law is to create conditions for its development.
Article 74 of the Constitution of the Republic of Poland of 2 April 1997 4 stipulates that public authorities shall pursue a policy ensuring ecological security for present and future generations. Furthermore, the protection of the environment is the responsibility of public authorities. The individual‘s right to environmental protection appeared in the Polish Constitution relatively recently. Gradually, more and more importance was attached to it, giving a wider range of adopted solutions, which is treated as a natural consequence of the development of civilization and progressing industrialization 5. Environmental protection means all activities and instruments counteracting the deterioration of the environment. It is particularly important in this respect to counteract the negative effects of environmental degradation on health 6. This gives rise to an obligation on the part of the legislator to adopt the relevant regulations and on the part of the other public authorities to implement and enforce them consistently.
An important component of the environmental protection system is climate protection, 7 understood as the totality of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, and geosphere and their interactions 8. Climate protection law includes legal norms that serve the purposes of climate change mitigation and adaptation. The global nature of the climate change problem means that climate protection law is created vertically, from international law 9, through the European Union (EU) to national regulations 10. Under Polish law, climate protection law is one of the most intensively developing areas of public law. This is because the responsibility for environmental protection should lie with the state, as it has all the tools to achieve this goal. Undoubtedly, the challenges of climate protection influence the updating of the administration‘s tasks in this area and determine the shape of administrative law. In view of the subject matter of the regulations, the legal norms on climate protection mainly fall under the branch of environmental law, which has administrative-legal connotations and is distinguished as a branch of this public law branch. ‘Climate law grows out of environmental law, integrates it but also goes beyond it’ 11; therefore, in the doctrine of Polish administrative law, it is not treated as a separate branch of law 12.
II. The Negative Impact of Transport on the Climate
The latest scientific reports show unprecedented changes in the world’s climate. According to article 2(2) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, promulgated in New York on 9 May 1992, climate change means changes in the climate caused directly or indirectly by human activity that alter the composition of the Earth‘s atmosphere and that are distinguished from the natural variability of the climate observed over comparable periods of time 13. Associated with industrialisation since the end of the 19th century, emissions of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) have led to a global warming of the Earth‘s atmosphere 14 and drastic climate change. They have brought the whole world dangerous consequences for ecological and social systems 15. Global warming is causing increased – and in some cases irreversible – changes to rainfall patterns, oceans, and winds in all regions of the world. Higher temperatures and intensified weather events result in huge costs for the economy and impact countries’ ability to produce food 16.
Transport affects the climate, and experts say the situation will steadily worsen. Ten years ago, transport accounted for around 10 per cent of all net anthropogenic warming, with carbon dioxide (CO2) topping the list, followed by tropospheric ozone (O3). It is now estimated that transport emissions will triple or quadruple global warming over the next 40 years. In 2050, transport is expected to generate 15 per cent of the total anthropogenic global warming, while at the beginning of the 22nd century, the contribution of transport to anthropogenic warming may reach 20 per cent 17.
The transport system depends on oil and petroleum products. It is estimated that in the EU alone they meet 96 per cent of the energy needs of the transport sector. The negative environmental effects of the use of petroleum products in transport are primarily related to the emission of greenhouse gases. Land transport (cars, vans, trucks, and buses) generates more than 70 per cent of total greenhouse gas emissions from transport. Passenger cars are the main source of pollution, accounting for almost 61 per cent of these emissions 18. For these reasons, land transport is considered to be the main obstacle to climate protection.
While most other sectors of the economy, such as energy and industry, have reduced their emissions since 1990, emissions from transport have increased 19. There is a high level of correlation between economic growth and the volume of freight and passenger transport. In this situation, reducing the demand for transport, including land transport, seems unrealistic 20. It is therefore necessary to introduce solutions to reduce transport emissions, taking into account its importance for the development of the economy, in order to be able to effectively protect the climate. An issue of utmost importance in the face of today‘s transport threats is to prevent their occurrence and, when this is not possible, to reduce their pressure on the environment and the scale and extent of their negative effects.
III. Electromobility As a Key to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Road Transport
In Poland, climate protection issues have found their rightful place in public discourse. Stopping climate change is now covered by a multi-level public policy 21, in which the leading role is assigned to administrative law regulations. The public administration has been obliged to take adaptive measures to enable society, as well as the economy, to adjust to current and anticipated climate change and its effects and consequences 22. They should be carried out simultaneously both at the national level and with the active support of local government units. This allows governments to develop a strategy of action and take appropriate steps.
Poland is the third most motorized country in the EU (the indicator is 662 cars per thousand inhabitants). Only Italians and Luxembourgers have more cars per thousand inhabitants than Poles. In this context, the negative impact of road transport on the environment and human life and health is much greater than in other transport sectors. Since 1990, the EU has managed to reduce its total CO2 emissions by 23 per cent, mainly due to reductions in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, CO2 emissions from car transport increased by 20 per cent. In Poland, greenhouse gas emissions from transport account for around 15 per cent of total national emissions, of which road vehicles, in particular passenger vehicles and delivery vans, account for the largest share (98 per cent). This problem is well known to the supreme public administration bodies that have developed the National Plan for Energy and Climate for 2021–2030 23. This is reflected in the fact that one of the public policies adopted in the Plan is to reduce emissions generated by road transport 24. This will be achieved by moving away from vehicles with conventional internal combustion engines and towards clean vehicles, as well as developing infrastructure (including base networks) for charging electric cars and upgrading the fleet of all modes of transport (vehicles and other necessary equipment and facilities), including alternative fuel infrastructure), maximising the share of low-emission modes of transport, and facilitating the creation of clean transport zones 25. The task of reducing emissions in the road transport sector will be even more challenging, as both in Poland and in the entire EU, a further significant increase in transport, especially cargo, is expected as an indispensable result of continued economic development. The expected reduction of emissions will require the optimization of both transport needs and the use of the potential of the transport system, as well as increasing the use of alternative fuels. The development of electric vehicles has a significant impact on the decarbonisation of transport, which mainly relies on diesel and petrol. The popularisation of green vehicles requires strategic management of demand for petroleum-based fuels, which is undoubtedly a public task. The instrument for supporting e-mobility in Poland is the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels 26, the norms of which, as an administrative-legal regulation, are classified as public law. The Act is intended to stimulate the development of electromobility and the use of other alternative fuels in transport 27. It lays down, in Article 1, rules for the development and operation of infrastructure for the use of alternative fuels in transport, including the technical requirements to be met by that infrastructure, the obligations of public entities for the development of alternative fuels infrastructure, information obligations for alternative fuels, and conditions for the operation of clean transport zones. The Act provides for the construction of a core infrastructure network for alternative fuels in urban agglomerations, in densely populated areas, and along roads belonging to trans-European transport corridors. At the same time, the legislature in Articles 3–17 devoted special attention to the issue of developing publicly available charging stations for electric and hybrid vehicles, and also defined the scope of station services. In addition to the charging itself, the charging service is to include the provision of charging station infrastructure, including for the purposes of registering an electric vehicle or hybrid vehicle user, authorising charging sessions, keeping records of charging session information, making charging session information available to the user, billing and collection of payments, issuing sales documents, handling claims and complaints, as well as providing information on the price of the charging service and its terms and conditions. The development of the core network and the provision of a high-quality charging service will allow cars using alternative fuels to move freely, without fear of not being able to recharge. By introducing amending provisions for other public laws, the Act has a significant impact on the popularisation of e-mobility. The removal of excise duties on electric cars and plug-in hybrids was an important solution 28. Indeed, excise duty was a significant factor that prevented many people from buying environmentally friendly vehicles. The changes to the excise law were aimed at increasing the number of electric vehicles purchased. The possibility of depreciation write-offs for companies was also greater than in the case of internal combustion cars 29. Exemption of owners of electric vehicles from parking fees is also a statutory solution to support the development of low-emission transport 30. The Act, in Article 60, also provides for a package of solutions that is useful to drivers on a daily basis (i.e., the creation of at least 6,000 electric charging points of normal power 31 and 400 high-power charging points 32).
IV. Conclusion
Electromobility is one of the key areas of activities managed by the administration and regulated by public law. In the case of Poland, the regulatory basis for these changes is implemented by the Act on electromobility and alternative fuels. The development of the e-mobility sector results not only from environmental and climatic conditions, but also from innovative solutions that change the competitiveness of industries and modify the world map of dependence on raw materials 33.
The electric vehicle market in Poland is in the development phase. This is evidenced by the lack of charging infrastructure (and the trace demand for such a service in places where infrastructure has been established) and the low sales of the vehicles themselves, making it difficult to decarbonise transport – thus, its negative impact on climate.
The role of the state in the pursuit of climate protection is to create appropriate legal instruments to encourage the dynamic development of e-mobility. Through the introduction of legal regulations dedicated to electromobility, which will be implemented by central and local government public administration bodies, it is assumed that important directional goals will be achieved on a nationwide level. In the 2025 perspective, it is assumed that one million electric vehicles will be on Polish roads, while by 2030 there will be 3,000 electric buses in the public transport segment 34. Reducing pollutant and CO2 emissions in the road transport sector as a result of the development of electromobility will significantly contribute to improving air quality in Poland, reducing emissions, and protecting the climate.