Pushing for a deal on Climate Change: The Foreign Secretary in Warsaw (09/09/2009)
The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, visited Warsaw as part of his European tour to push towards agreement on a global deal to tackle Climate Change at the UN COP14 Conference in Copenhagen in December.
In a joint press conference in London on Tuesday 8 September with the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, the Foreign Secretary stressed that the Copenhagen deal is in the balance. They highlighted the real danger that the December talks may not reach a positive outcome and the equal danger that people won’t wake up to the danger until it is too late.
Following visits to Paris and Rotterdam, the Foreign Secretary visited Poland with Foreign Minister Bildt of Sweden, the current EU Presidency, and Danish Climate Change Ambassador Geert Aagaard Andersen to address the fears of a European country massively dependent on coal. The Ministers visited Swedish company Vattenfall’s major combined heat and power (CHP) coal-based plant “Siekierki”. This is the biggest CHP Plant in Poland, the second largest in Europe. In 2007 and 2008 Vattenfall carried out key modernisation projects on its Warsaw plant, reducing emissions concentrations to 50% below legal requirements.
Vattenfall's forthcoming modernisation plans are the largest ecological programme currently realised within Poland's energy sector. Worth over a million PLN, they aim to reduce the plant's total emissions by 80%. Flagship investments include desulphulisation installation and new CCS ready power unit. The British Embassy in Warsaw is currently working closely with Vattenfall Poland and Lewiatan on a project to promote low carbon investments, focussing on Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) technology, energy efficiency and biomass.
Following their visit to the Siekierki plant, the Ministers met Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski for further discussions on Climate Change, before travelling to Copenhagen for a meeting of EU Foreign Ministers, summoned by Danish Foreign Minister Muller, to launch a European diplomatic offensive to make the case for a Climate Change deal.
