Unique expertise

As the leading environmental team in Poland (Chambers & Partners Band 1), we provide full-service advisory on all aspects of business operations from the angle of environmental protection, climate change regulations and product stewardship, including product compliance, product safety and product liability issues.

We advise domestic and foreign clients—mainly from the industrial, chemical, energy, infrastructure, and real estate sectors, as well as public bodies—on issues related to Polish and EU environmental protection law.

Working closely with our Dentons colleagues in the European Union and around the world, we specialize in structuring comprehensive, cross-border regulatory projects, where our Warsaw office often serves as competence hub for the CEE region.

Clients can rely on our seasoned counsel to minimize risks and ensure their operations comply with environmental law and regulations in Poland and in the entire EU region.

We support our clients on their environment-related challenges, including regulatory, litigation and transactional issues, providing seasoned advice for the most topical issues, such as:

• Security of the investment process:
  • Ensuring proper project classification and legal compliance of the project’s environmental investment and operational documentation
  • Maintaining active contact with environmental protection authorities to ensure the efficient course of administrative proceedings
  • Representing clients in administrative court proceedings
  • Devising strategies for safe project implementation for investors
  • Ensuring smooth processes in obtaining administrative decisions (environmental decisions, integrated permits, decisions on water and wastewater management)
  • Counteracting delays in project completion schedules, communication with environmental NGOs and all stakeholders (affected communities and NIMBY members)
• Regulatory/environmental compliance:
  • Advising clients on compliance of their business operations with environmental regulations
  • Representing in legal proceedings launched in connection with environmental decisions, integrated permits and sectoral permits
  • Representing in proceedings before administrative authorities and courts in environmental law matters, including in proceedings relating to liability for non-compliance with environmental requirements, fines, exemptions from disclosure of business secrets, appeals against post-inspection orders of the Regional Environmental Protection Inspectorates, etc.
• Chemical sector: REACH, CLP, PFAS, micro plastics, polymers, biocides, pesticides, and other regulations, including those regulating the use of chromium, mercury or lithium containing substances
• Product stewardship: safety, liability, packaging, and labeling
• Soil contamination:
  • Remediation strategies tailored to take into account current on-site activities, and also in a transactional context (in connection with potential acquisition or sale of contaminated property), legal and technical aspects (in tandem with technical partners)
  • Preparation of risk assessments, remediation action plans and formal files for remediation procedures
  • Representing clients in formal remediation proceedings
• Decarbonization:
  • EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)
  • Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM)
  • Industrial Emissions Directive (IED)
  • Climate change litigation
• Circular economy: Including SUP directive and extended producer responsibility (ROP/EPR)
• Waste management:
  • By-product recognition and international waste shipments
  • Strategies for after-market services
  • Product (goods) vs. waste assessment and qualification
  • Business models for product (re)manufacturing
  • Processing and substance recovery activities under waste regulations
• Geology and mining:
  • Advising on obtaining licenses for exploration, prospecting and mining of minerals, including metal ores, rare earth elements, gemstones, and thermal waters
  • Supporting companies’ compliance with mining, geological and environmental laws, representation in administrative and court proceedings related to defense against the imposition of administrative fines and liability for mining damage
  • Advising on land remediation after winding up mining activities
  • Advising on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) projects, including licensing, environmental procedures, and monitoring and reporting for CCS facilities in accordance with applicable laws and regulations

Product lifecycle management (PLM)

Dentons’ Environmental Protection practice in Warsaw has a dedicated Expert Line to respond to growing client demand for more sustainable PLM.

PLM is a comprehensive process for controlling the design, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, distribution, after-market services and for the subsequent disposal and recycling of products, in compliance with applicable regulations, and increasingly with integrating circular economy principles, while at the same time addressing the manufacturer’s commercial goals. As part of our PLM management offer, we also advise clients on green compliance to assist them in ensuring that their business activities comply with environmental regulations, policies, and the best market practices.

An approach rooted in experience, instead of theory

We are proactive, practical and pragmatic. We listen and focus on areas that are important and critical for our clients.

We track regulatory trends right from the planning stage and analyze their potential impact on clients’ businesses from the very beginning, identifying both new risks and new investment opportunities associated with any new regulations.

We always act to the benefit of our clients, protecting them from both regulatory and market risks, as well as from actions of NIMBYists, communities and organizations that may threaten their investment plans and business operations.

We understand our clients’ business environment: To better understand their needs and improve communication with the management team, we get to know the economic (geography, sector), political and cultural (country of origin, corporate culture, key markets) aspects of their business.

We constantly strive to improve the quality of our services, both through the development of internal policies that optimize the work of our team and through initiatives to continuously improve our knowledge and efficiently structure our resources. For example, our Warsaw Environmental Protection team can be credited with founding the Dentons European Regulatory Academy (DERA), which shares knowledge across jurisdictions in order to develop a cohesive Dentons Europe regulatory team that is ready to respond to our clients’ needs.

Insights

EU decarbonization policy at a crossroads – what regulations industry can expect

May 12, 2025

Poland: For years, the European Union has been taking measures related to the decarbonization of industry, i.e. the reduction and, in the long term, elimination of CO2 emissions. Examples include the EU Emissions Trading System, which has been in place since 2005, or the regulations on industrial emissions of 2010.

Regulatory Roadmap: 2025

February 6, 2025

Poland: One thing is certain: the months ahead in 2025 will bring growing political risks for businesses worldwide, including within the European Union. New regulations—shaped by current political events—along with the enforcement of previously adopted laws, will have direct and sometimes drastic effects on business operations. Below, we’ve outlined key regulatory changes that we believe will significantly impact companies across various industries, as well as their reputation and public image in Poland, Europe, and beyond.

CCS – legal framework for the development of carbon capture and storage technologies in Poland and the European Union

December 18, 2024

The European Union has been undertaking a number of industrial decarbonization measures directly affecting businesses in recent years. An example is last year’s amendment to the Directive establishing a scheme for greenhouse gas emission allowance trading within the Community (EU ETS Directive). The amendment reduced the cap on emission allowances and tightened the rules for the allocation of free allowances, which may result in the purchase of more allowances than before and an increase in prices. This has an impact on the cost of carrying on business in the sectors covered by the EU ETS.

View all insights for Environment and Natural Resources in Poland