Polish coal is surviving only with heavy public subsidies. In 2025, taxpayers will spend 9 billion złoty propping up the sector. That is about 600 zloty per household, or 10% of the country’s annual personal income tax revenue, calculates energy news website Wysokie Napięcie.

According to state pollster CBOS, 83% of Poles said in 2025 that they have “high esteem” for the mining profession, the same share as in 1987.

In 2021, miners struck a deal with the PiS government allowing coal mining to continue until 2049, despite warnings that coal would likely be unviable long before then.