Prezes Węglokoksu: Europe Must Adopt China’s Development Model to Stay Competitive

When Tomasz Ślęzak, president of Węglokoks, stood before the European Economic Congress in Katowice on April 22, 2026, and declared that Europe must adopt China’s development model for energy-intensive industry, the ripple effects traveled far beyond Silesian smokestacks. His candid assessment—that punishment through carbon pricing achieves nothing while strategic investment and infrastructure access build real competitiveness—struck a chord in American industrial corridors still grappling with volatile energy markets and supply chain fragility. For communities built around manufacturing, from the steel valleys of Pennsylvania to the chemical corridors of the Gulf Coast, his warning about spot-market risks and the need for long-term, locked-in contracts wasn’t just overseas commentary; it was a mirror held up to domestic vulnerabilities. Nowhere does this resonate more acutely than in Houston, Texas, where the energy sector’s evolution directly shapes livelihoods along the Ship Channel and in neighborhoods like Manchester and Harrisburg.

Houston’s identity as the Energy Capital of the World makes it uniquely exposed to the dynamics Ślęzak described. The city’s industrial base—refineries, petrochemical plants, and manufacturing hubs along Interstate 10 and the Houston Ship Channel—relies on stable, affordable energy inputs, much like the European counterparts he referenced. When natural gas prices spike due to weather extremes or geopolitical tension, as they did during the 2021 winter storm and again in 2024 amid global uncertainty, Houston’s energy-intensive manufacturers face immediate margin pressure. Ślęzak’s admission that Węglokoks lost “a few nice million zlotys” on gas alone during the recent crisis echoes the lived experience of Houston firms that saw utility costs surge during ERCOT grid emergencies, forcing some to curtail production or absorb losses they couldn’t recoup. His critique of spot-market trading as “burdened with fundamental risk” aligns with growing concerns among Texas industrial consumers who argue that over-reliance on real-time pricing leaves them exposed to volatility they can’t control.

What Ślęzak proposed—shifting from punishment to reward, creating incentives rather than penalties—finds unexpected parallels in ongoing Texas policy debates. The Texas Legislature’s intermittent discussions about industrial energy efficiency programs, grid resilience funding, and targeted incentives for clean hydrogen adoption mirror his suggestion that state budgets, even when constrained, can deploy tools like excess profits taxes to refund industrial energy costs. While Texas lacks a direct equivalent to the EU’s ETS, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) market design has long been criticized for inadequate scarcity pricing and insufficient incentives for demand response from large industrial users. Ślęzak’s call for infrastructure access—having “some locked-in contracts”—points to a solution Houston industries increasingly pursue: long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with renewable energy providers. Companies like Shell, which operates major chemical plants in Deer Park, and LyondellBasell, with facilities along the Ship Channel, have already entered such agreements to lock in power costs and meet sustainability goals, effectively adopting a pragmatic, reward-based approach to energy procurement.

The raw materials dependency Ślęzak indirectly highlighted through his emphasis on stable supply chains takes on urgent significance in Houston given the region’s role in processing imported commodities. The Port of Houston, the busiest in the U.S. By foreign tonnage, handles vast quantities of crude oil, petroleum products, and increasingly, critical minerals essential for the energy transition. As noted in broader analyses of EU vulnerability to Chinese supply dominance—particularly for rare earth elements vital to wind turbines, EV batteries, and solar panels—Houston’s refining and manufacturing sectors are not immune to similar risks. While the city doesn’t produce neodymium or dysprosium, its processors and fabricators rely on global supply chains that, as the Silesia 2030 conference warned, remain heavily dependent on countries with questionable labor and environmental practices. This creates a second-order effect: Houston’s push to attract battery manufacturing and hydrogen hubs, supported by initiatives like the HyVelocity Hub, must grapple with the same material sourcing challenges Ślęzak’s European peers face, necessitating strategies for domestic recycling, urban mining, or diversified sourcing to avoid replicating Europe’s import vulnerability.

Given my background in industrial economics and energy policy, if this trend of volatile energy markets and supply chain insecurity impacts you in Houston—whether you manage operations at a manufacturing facility near Pasadena, oversee logistics at the Port Authority, or advise small suppliers in the Energy Corridor—here are the three types of local professionals you need to consult. First, look for Industrial Energy Risk Management Consultants who specialize in designing long-term hedging strategies and PPAs tailored to Texas’ deregulated market; they should have proven experience helping mid-sized manufacturers reduce spot-market exposure through contracts with providers like NRG or Calpine, and understand ERCOT’s ancillary services markets as tools for cost optimization. Second, engage Supply Chain Resilience Strategists focused on critical materials for energy transition technologies; seek those with expertise in mapping vulnerabilities in rare earth and critical mineral supply chains, familiar with initiatives from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute and the Texas Mineral Resources Authority, who can assess your exposure to single-source dependencies and recommend diversification or recycling partnerships. Third, partner with Industrial Decarbonization Advisors who understand how incentive-based models—like tax abatements under Chapter 313 of the Texas Tax Code or federal 45V hydrogen credits—can reward clean energy investments rather than punish emissions; they should have worked with clients on projects qualifying for Texas Emissions Reduction Plan (TERP) grants or connected with Houston Advanced Research Center (HARC) on practical pathways to reduce energy intensity without compromising competitiveness.

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