English Section

Poland must be compensated for drive to go greener: PM

02.12.2019 15:00
Coal-dependent Poland can make more efforts to change its energy system and reduce emissions, but must be properly compensated, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Monday ahead of a climate change summit.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) greets Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki upon his arrival for the opening ceremony of the COP25 Climate Summit held in Madrid, Spain, 02 December 2019.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez (R) greets Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki upon his arrival for the opening ceremony of the COP25 Climate Summit held in Madrid, Spain, 02 December 2019.EPA/CHEMA MOYA

Morawiecki, who was speaking ahead of the United Nations’ COP25 climate change conference in Madrid, said that the cost of transformation to greener energy “must be divided fairly and our demands fulfilled if we are to speak about new CO2 reduction goals."

“We have a very difficult starting point, characteristic only for Poland because of our coal dependency and this starting point must be considered,” Morawiecki was quoted as saying by Polish state news agency PAP.

Morawiecki also said that countries such as the Netherlands and Belgium “are on the one hand in the vanguard of [efforts to limit] climate change and, on the other hand, their per capita consumption is much higher than in Poland."

Some 25,000 participants from almost 200 countries were expected to attend the COP25 climate summit in the Spanish capital to discuss ways of reducing global warming.

The summit runs from today to Friday next week.

Poland produced 63.4 million tonnes of hard coal last year, 86 percent of the European Union’s output, according to Eurostat, the bloc’s statistics agency.

(jh/pk)

Source: PAP