Greenpeace has criticised Poland hosting the UN climate summit in 2013, as announced at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha, Qatar. “A host country should be firmly committed to climate protection and be able to negotiate compromises and seal deals, but Poland has a bad track record on both counts,” says Greenpeace’s Jiri Jerabek.
Ministers and NGOs are at the 18th Global climate change conference, which opened in Qatar on November 26th, with representatives from nearly 200 nations convening for two weeks of talks aimed at curbing global carbon emissions.
Poland has been slammed for its record on environmental issues after it blocked raising EU carbon emission targets and its decision to go ahead with shale gas extraction and building a nuclear power station.
“We have experience organizing the 2008 Conference of Parties and heading the European Union delegation at the previous climate summit,” Polish environment minister Marcin Korolec said in a message sent to the Bloomberg news agency. “We know how to grow and cut emissions. All ingredients are there for a good negotiation session.”
“We are sending a clear signal that the main priority of climate policy should be the signing of a global deal,” Korolec added. “Europe will only be able to lead the process if we manage to convince our partners to join.”
Poland hosted the UN climate summit in 2008 when 10,000 delegates attended the conference in Poznan.
Source: Polish Radio and Bloomberg
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