Poland obstacle at Durban?
PR dla Zagranicy
Peter Gentle
09.12.2011 14:15
The Durban climate conference, which ends today, would be making better progress if Poland was not chairing the meeting, says a former UK deputy prime minister.
Poland is currently chairing with the UN climate talks with Denmark this week to find a successor to the Kyoto agreement.
But Lord John Prescott, former British deputy prime minister has said that if the UK, not Poland, was chairing the meeting (in its role as head of the EU presidency) the talks would be making greater progress.
Poland, is all about “coal, coal, coal”, Lord Prescott told the Financial Times, a reference to the fact that some 90 per cent of Poland's electricity is generated from coal.
Lord Prescott added that he had been told by one negotiator that some in the EU team in Durban had already told Poland’s environment minister Marcin Korolec, who is leading the talks, that “he should be speaking for Europe, not Poland”.
Poland is concerned that strict C02 emission targets would hit the nation’s economic growth.
EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said Brazil and South Africa now supported binding cuts to emissions of greenhouse gasses.
"The success or failure of Durban hangs on a small number of countries who have not yet committed to the (EU) roadmap and the meaningful content it must have," Hedegaard said Friday morning. (pg)