The Council has been appointed first of all as a response to the expectations of investors and the business community regarding ORLEN Group’s environmental reporting standards and as a support for effective delivery of the Group’s carbon neutrality strategy. Formalised oversight of climate and sustainability issues is also key to meeting ESG goals affecting the terms of financing raised by the Group. The appointment of the Council is in line with the reporting guidelines of the Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosure and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which will take effect in 2024.

'We have been consistently ramping up the scale of our operations, consolidating our position as the energy transition leader in Central Europe. We recognise the business opportunities presented by global trends, as well as the need to effectively manage risks in a highly unstable environment. Climate change, the regulatory environment, evolving customer and investor expectations are all factors that we need to carefully parameterize and incorporate into our business strategy. The appointment of the Council, which will be able to combine all these aspects and translate them into concrete business solutions, will provide vital support to the implementation of our long-term growth plans,' said Daniel Obajtek, President of the PKN ORLEN Management Board.

The Council will include the Group’s representatives from the areas of strategy and innovation, finance management, sustainability, environmental protection and risk management. The Council’s tasks will primarily include identifying and monitoring climate opportunities and risks. The body will also analyse and report on climate impacts, including their effect on the results and financial position, as well as planned capital expenditure. The Council’s responsibilities will include publishing information on the resilience of the Group’s strategy to various climate scenarios and developing financial and non-financial KPIs for decarbonisation, water consumption and biodiversity.

PKN ORLEN is consistently pursuing its carbon neutrality strategy, as part of which by 2030 the Group will reduce its CO2 emissions from its existing refining and petrochemical assets by 20% and CO2/MWh emissions from electricity generation assets by 33%. The main decarbonisation projects include investments in low- and zero-carbon energy sources, alternative fuels and hydrogen, recycling, increasing the energy efficiency of refining and petrochemical assets, and investments in carbon capture, storage and utilisation technologies.