Q&A :: Poland's coal policy going nowhere fast, greens claim

The global climate summit, COP19, was launched in Warsaw on Monday. On the first day of the gathering, Poland's environment minister called for global action against climate change in his opening address.

Environmentalists are, however, skeptical of Poland’s confirmed drive towards fighting global warming, as the country's leadership is set to build more coal-fired power plants in the future and has recently cut subsidies for the green sector.

"We are expecting from the Polish government to look farther than the next election, but it looks like (...) they're [only] trying to keep their power," says spokesperson for the Climate Coalition Piotr Siergiej.

"We have a choice: we either stick to coal, and energy will become more expensive, because coal is getting more expensive or we stick to sustainable sources of energy, which are of course expensive too, but from a long-term perspective, it would be a better strategy to stick to the fuel which is renewable," Piotr Siergiej adds.