Following United Nations summit, Governor Newsom brings California’s climate work to Poland, launches new partnership

Governor Gavin Newsom and Secretary of State for Climate and Environment, Krzysztof Bolesta, sign a memorandum of understanding launching a California-Poland climate partnership in Warsaw, Poland.

Common cause on climate and energy

On Friday, Governor Newsom and Polish Secretary of State for Climate and Environment Krzysztof Bolesta signed the MOU at the ministry’s headquarters in Warsaw. 

The partnership outlines cooperation on:

• Clean energy technology and energy systems, including renewable energy, grid modernization, energy storage and energy efficiency.

• Reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including short-lived climate pollutants such as methane.

• Climate adaptation, including extreme heat resilience, preparation for extreme weather, and wildfire prevention and management.

• Carbon removal and nature-based solutions.

There are strong opportunities for California and Poland to collaborate. Poland is working to expand renewable energy, modernize its electricity grid, and reduce its reliance on coal. California has spent years building one of the world’s largest clean energy systems while growing its economy, and both governments want energy that is more affordable, reliable, and secure.

The partnership is the next step in California’s expanding engagement with Poland. In July, the Governor met with Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski. In September, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) led a delegation of California companies to MSPO, Eastern Europe’s largest defense and security trade show. GO-Biz also led California delegations to ReBuild Ukraine in Warsaw in 2024 and 2025.

The global energy crisis has reinforced the need to accelerate clean energy deployment and electrification. California is demonstrating that clean energy and economic growth go hand in hand, while reducing exposure to volatile fossil fuel markets.

Governor Gavin Newsom lays a wreath at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in Warsaw.

Remembrance at POLIN

One of the Governor’s first stops on Saturday was laying a wreath at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes in the former Warsaw Ghetto. He then met with museum leaders and supporters at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, which traces 1,000 years of Jewish life in Poland. He signed the museum’s commemorative book.

Governor Gavin Newsom pays his respects at the Monument to the Ghetto Heroes, which stands in the former Warsaw Ghetto.

The museum’s core exhibition covers the history of Polish Jews from the Middle Ages to the present in eight galleries arranged chronologically, from the first Jewish communities through the Holocaust to Jewish life in Poland after 1944. Objects, paintings, interactive installations, reconstructions, models, video projections, sound, and text tell the story. The best-known piece is the rebuilt painted ceiling of the wooden synagogue of Gwoździec, now in Ukraine.

Governor Gavin Newsom signs the commemorative book at the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.

Built in the heart of the former Warsaw Ghetto, POLIN uses education to counter prejudice, racism and extremism—an anti-hate mission California shares.

Governor Newsom reflected on what he saw at the museum:

“What stays with you isn’t just the grief; it’s the whole story that’s in the museum: the markets, the poets, the weddings, the life they lived through centuries. You leave understanding that this is a unique and rich history that everyone should see. The museum is a powerful reminder that we have to remain vigilant to protect what we value even in the darkest of times”

The Governor’s time at POLIN reflected a conviction California and Poland share: that remembering the past is part of defending freedom today.

Batteries that move people and power grids

On Saturday, the Governor met with Impact Clean Power Technology, Poland’s leading maker of lithium-ion battery systems, to explore opportunities in clean transportation and energy storage. Impact designs and builds batteries for electric and hydrogen buses, trucks, rail and industrial vehicles, and supplies grid-scale energy storage.

Governor Newsom meets with Impact Clean Power Technology, Poland’s leading maker of lithium-ion battery systems, to explore opportunities in clean transportation and energy storage.

The company has delivered more than 20,000 battery systems, which power more than 3,000 electric buses. In 2024, it opened GigafactoryX, a 16,300-square-meter plant that produces 1.2 gigawatt-hours of batteries a year, with plans to more than triple that by 2027.

At Impact, the Governor met with Katarzyna Pindral, vice president and chief financial officer; Bartek Kras, vice president and chief technology officer; and board member Jacek Leonkiewicz.

“Poland is a really remarkable story: what they’ve been able to accomplish in the last few decades,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “It feels like California. This place is all about entrepreneurial innovation, and it’s about imagination, the secret sauce. You have those examples right here having a huge impact on the global marketplace with batteries, which is where the world is going.”

California shares those priorities. The state’s battery storage fleet has grown from less than 700 megawatts in 2019 to about 23,000 megawatts today, and California is a major market for electric transit buses and zero-emission trucks. 

Today, California also leads the nation in critical minerals production and is home to Lithium Valley in the Salton Sea region, one of the world’s largest known lithium reserves.

Governor Newsom urged leaders to embrace the clean energy transition instead of delaying it:

 “The question is, will politicians get out of the way, or will they continue to delay it?,” he said. “So many special interests are holding us back in the 19th and 20th centuries, and they want to put our work in reverse and hold the progress in the green energy space around the globe. The smart move is embracing the future, not turning your back on the planet.”

Creative industries and economic ties

The Governor also met with CD Projekt, Poland’s largest video game developer and the studio behind The Witcher franchise, at its Warsaw campus to explore ways to deepen creative and economic ties. Company leadership included Joint CEO Adam Badowski; Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz; Chief Marketing Officer Jeremiah Cohn; and Jan Rosner, Vice President of Business Development and Franchise Strategy. 

Governor Newsom meets with leaders of CD Projekt Red, Poland’s largest video game developer and the studio behind The Witcher, at its Warsaw campus.

Poland has grown into a leading video game exporter, backed by strong STEM education: more than 50 universities offer more than 60 specialized game development and computer science degree programs. The industry’s roots go back to the communist era, when students flocked to the street markets to swap pirated games and build community. For young Poles who dreamed of the West, video games were a window to that. 

“Creativity is thriving all around the globe: there’s such a sense of community, a sense of belonging at places like CD Projekt Red, the mothership of storytelling, at a time when we all feel unmoored, feel disconnected,” said Governor Newsom.

Governor Gavin Newsom with CD Projekt Red Chief Marketing Officer Jeremiah Cohn, Chief Financial Officer Piotr Nielubowicz, and Joint CEO Adam Badowski at the company’s Warsaw campus.

The original Cyberpunk 2077 drew heavily on California’s urban landscape, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Oakland. For its sequel, Project Orion, CD Projekt Red established its core development hub in Boston, with teams in Vancouver and Warsaw.

Governor Newsom said the visit was “an opportunity to remind everybody that we all have things in common, that we’re united in our desire for not just belonging, but for adventure, for creativity, to be able to have agency in our lives, to make decisions, learn the consequences, good or bad, of those decisions.”

Standing with Ukraine

On Saturday morning, the Governor joined Senior Advisor and GO-Biz Director Dee Dee Myers for a fireside chat at the California and Washington State networking breakfast during the America-Ukraine Clean Energy Forum in Warsaw.

They discussed California’s long partnership with Ukraine, including more than 30 years of cooperation between the California National Guard and Ukraine through the National Guard’s State Partnership Program, and how public and private partners can work together on energy security. California is home to the second-largest Ukrainian American population in the country.

Governor Newsom joins Senior Advisor and GO-Biz Director Dee Dee Myers for a fireside chat at the California and Washington State networking breakfast during the America-Ukraine Clean Energy Forum in Warsaw.

California recently established a sister-state relationship with Lviv Oblast, focused on sustainable reconstruction and economic development. The Governor said the relationship between California and Ukraine presents an opportunity amid the chaos to form strong partnerships and build energy independence.

“It’s just the opportunity to think anew and act anew. It’s the opportunity to begin with a different mindset. It’s an opportunity to be more resilient in every way, shape or form. That’s why clean energy should be front and center, self-evident. It’s a strategic imperative. Period. Full stop,” Governor Newsom said.

At the fireside chat with Myers, Governor Newsom spoke about the war in Iran, which he called a self-inflicted wound for President Trump, and the resulting spikes in gas and diesel prices and economic reverberations around the world.

American voters, reacting to the Trump administration’s rampant corruption and embrace of Big Oil, spoke loudly in the midterm elections, the Governor said. The subtext, he said, was that clean energy was subconsciously on the ballot, too.

Governor Newsom delivered a message for the partners in the room:

“We have been arguing around clean energy as a better economic bet, an argument that we feel we’ve won in California. But regardless of the whiplash in Washington, D.C., we want you to remember that California is a stable partner.”

Governor Gavin Newsom learns about the history of palant from Łukasz Szymborski, CEO of the Polish Palant Association, at the Nowa Skra Sports Complex in Warsaw.

A Game of Palant

In the late afternoon, Governor Newsom stopped by the Nowa Skra Sports Complex for a demonstration of Palant, a Polish game using a wooden stick and a rubber ball. The sport has similarities to modern baseball. Łukasz Szymborski, CEO of the Polish Palant Association, demonstrated the game for the Governor and Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski. Governor Newsom then hit a few balls.

Governor Gavin Newsom meets with Warsaw Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski and Łukasz Szymborski, CEO of the Polish Palant Association, at a Palant demonstration at the Nowa Skra Sports Complex in Warsaw.

Palant was the most popular sport in the country before World War II. Later, it disappeared or was replaced by baseball for many years. Since 2014, the Polish Palant Association, PSPal, has worked to revive the sport. Next year is the 600th anniversary of the earliest known written records of palant.