Michal Kurtyuka

Michał Kurtyka served as the first minister of Poland’s Ministry of Climate, responsible with energy and climate, which later expanded to become the Ministry of Climate and Environment. During his tenure starting in 2019, the Polish government adopted its 2040 Energy Policy, opening a new era for the Polish energy transition. He designed the implementation and financing of the energy transition, being the architect of Recovery and Resilience Plan and European funding until 2027 but also launching programs such as “My Water”, “Green Public Transport”, “Green Cars,” and “The City of Tomorrow.” He modernized the Polish Nuclear Strategy paving the way for construction of the first nuclear power plant in Poland as well as launched general design of a Small Modular Reactor Pola. During all these years he worked closely with the European Commission and other European institutions on legislative initiatives and regulations, including Coal Regions in Transition and winter package. He oversaw record increases in registration for the development of renewable sources, reaching thousands of megawatts of installed capacity in photovoltaics and one million prosumers. He launched industrial alliances for hydrogen, photovoltaics, and biogas, and he put forth a framework for the development of offshore wind. He also originated “The Electromobility Development Plan” and guided the creation of the Act on Electromobility and Alternative Fuels, enabling these forms of transport to develop dynamically, including Izera, first large-scale automotive start-up in Poland.

In 2018 Kurtyka was appointed as Government Plenipotentiary for the Presidency of COP24—the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Poland. From July 2018, he also held the position of Secretary of State in the Ministry of Environment. In December 2018, he became the COP24 President, which ended with the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. In 2019 he assumed the role of Ministerial Chair of the International Energy Agency and in 2021 he was designed as Ministerial Chairman of the United Nations of Food and Agriculture. Starting in January 2016, Kurtyka served as the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Energy, where he was responsible for the technological development and implementation of innovations in the energy sector, climate and energy policy in the fuel and gas sector, and relations with other countries and international organizations. He was also responsible for supervising the state’s participation in the biggest Polish oil and gas companies, such as Orlen, Lotos, and PGNiG.

Kurtyka is a graduate of the Parisian École Polytechnique (X94) and earned a scholarship in quantum optics at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, located near Washington DC, where he worked under the leadership of Nobel laureate in physics William D. Phillips. Kurtyka also specialized in economics, with a particular focus on industrial and market organization, studying there under Jean Tirole. In the field of international economics, he studied at the University in Louvain-la-Neuve, and he earned his master’s degree at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. He is the author of numerous books and articles and he defended his PhD at the University of Warsaw on restructuring of energy utilities. Kurtyka serves currently as Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council Global Energy Center, he is Member of the Executive Board of Europe Jacques Delors in Brussels, Strategic Advisor to the Eiffel Investment Group and Co-Chair of the G7+ High-Level Advisory Group for Ukraine’s National Energy And Climate Plan. He is Professor at College of Europe in Natolin and Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego in Warsaw.

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