Background
Korolec was born on 24 December 1968 in Warsaw. He is a son of Jerzy Bartłomiej Korolec (died 2000) – historian, diplomat and liberal-minded Catholic intellectual who serve as Polish ambassador to Slovakia in the early 1990s.
Korolec was born on 24 December 1968 in Warsaw. He is a son of Jerzy Bartłomiej Korolec (died 2000) – historian, diplomat and liberal-minded Catholic intellectual who serve as Polish ambassador to Slovakia in the early 1990s.
After obtaining Master of Arts in law and history at the Warsaw University (1994) he graduated from the French École nationale d"administration (1996).
He was the minister of environment in Donald Tusk"s cabinet from 2011 to 2013. He previously served as deputy minister of economy in the cabinets of Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Jarosław Kaczyński and Donald Tusk between 2005 and 2011. In the years 1993-1995 and 1997-1998 he worked as a lawyer in various national and international law firms and in the department of law and treaties at the Polish ministry of foreign affairs
From 1999 to 2001, Korolec was an advisor to the Government’s Plenipotentiary for Poland’s European Union Accession Negotiations, responsible for the fields of competition policy, free movement of goods and persons, agriculture and consumers protection.
In 2001-2004, he was the Minister’s Counsellor at the Office of the Committee for European Integration, in Minister Danuta Hübner’s office. He held a number of lecturing positions at the Polish National School of Public Administration, the Warsaw University, Collegium Civitas in Warsaw, J. Tischner European University in Cracow.
His lectures covered i.a. structural funds and coordination of Poland’s European policy. From 2004 to 2005 Korolec worked as a partner at Euroidea consulting company.
On 23 November 2005, Korolec was appointed by the Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz as the Undersecretary of State in Ministry of Economy.
Foreign two governmental terms of Office (2005-2011) he was primarily responsible for horizontal European issues (energy, competitiveness, trade and climate policy). He was also in charge of Poland’s relations with World Trade Organization, Organization of European Cooperation and Development and United Nations Industrial Development Organization. On 18 November 2011, Korolec was appointed by the President Bronisław Komorowski as the minister of environment in the Second Cabinet of Donald Tusk. He represents Poland in the Council of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and European Union-Russia Gas Advisory Council.
He co-led (along with European Union Commissioner Connie Hedegaard) the European Union’s delegation at the 2012 UNFCCC United Nations Conference in Durban.
In November 2013, he was removed from office, but was named as the government climate envoy.
Since 2010, he has been a member of the Supervisory Board of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. Since November 2012 he has been a member of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization Green Industry Platform Advisory Board.