Social Dimension of Poland’s Sustainable Energy Transition as Assessed by Residents of the Silesian Region

Sustainable development is a key concept that has been formulated over many years and is currently transforming our world. Decisions made in its spirit are influencing the economic and legal order and the daily lives of people in Europe and around the world. In Poland, achieving sustainable development requires a number of difficult decisions, and one of them is to transform the energy system toward low carbon. Poland’s energy transition is not an easy task in a country where, for many years, the dominant energy resource in terms of availability, resources and price has been coal. In view of such conditions, the Polish energy system has been based on coal, which in Polish conditions is still of strategic importance in meeting energy needs. For this reason, Poland’s planned move away from coal raises many controversies and concerns, especially in areas where mines operate. At the same time, it should be remembered that the mining industry, in addition to mining companies, brings together a large group of mining-related companies working for the benefit of mining. Due to the fact that it is in the territory of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin that about 80% of the documented balance resources of Polish hard coal are located, it was justified to conduct a survey among the residents of the Silesian Province as the group most likely to be affected by this decision. The aim of the survey was to find out the target group’s opinion on Poland’s transition away from coal. In turn, the main research problem was an attempt to answer the question of what percentage of households in the Silesian Province are opposed to Poland’s transition away from coal and what are the most significant factors influencing their opinion. Hence, this study presents the results of an empirical survey conducted among a randomly selected group of residents of the Silesian Province. The size of the research sample was 385 people. The study took into account factors such as age, place of residence, income, the square footage of the dwelling and the method of heating it, as well as respondents’ professional affiliation with the mining, mining-related, gas or energy industry. The results of the survey and analyses show that the vast majority of Upper Silesian residents are against the departure from coal, which is being planned in Poland’s energy transition. In addition, the most significant factors influencing respondents’ opinion on Poland’s move away from coal were identified and evaluated, revealing two social groups with differing views: one group opposes the move away from coal, prioritizing energy independence, energy security, energy prices and jobs over environmental issues; the other group advocates for the transition mainly for environmental reasons.