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Poland switching to green energy at own pace: ruling party leader

16.11.2021 13:00
Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of Poland's governing conservatives, on Tuesday said the country was working to secure energy from eco-friendly sources, but the process would require time.  
The leader of Polands ruling Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński (pictured), wants the country to switch to clean energy at its own tempo.
The leader of Poland's ruling Law and Justice party, Jarosław Kaczyński (pictured), wants the country to switch to clean energy at its own tempo.PAP/Łukasz Gągulski

In an interview with public broadcaster Polish Radio, Kaczyński said that, "according to many scientists," the Earth's climate had changed due to human activity and "something has to be done about it." 

He added that Poland was seeking renewable sources of energy, with plans in place for wind farms on the Baltic Sea.

The country is also building gas-fired power stations and "obviously we are going to develop nuclear ones as well," Kaczyński announced, as cited by Polish Radio's IAR news agency. 

However, energy transition is more challenging for Poland than for other European Union countries, "and we expect this to be taken into account," he said in the interview.

Kaczyński, who leads Poland's ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, urged the European bloc "not to set an overly fast tempo" of transformation.

He would not be drawn on whether Poland will veto the EU's new package of climate-and-energy policies, "Fit for 55," which aims to cut the bloc's greenhouse-gas emissions by 55 percent until 2030, the IAR news agency reported. 

Kaczyński's words came in the wake of the COP26 global environmental summit, which ended in Glasgow at the weekend.

Last month, the Polish government said it would consider using its right to veto EU policies if Brussels continued to bar Warsaw from accessing the bloc's post-pandemic recovery funds amid a dispute over the rule of law.

(pm/gs)

Source: IAR, PAP