WARSAW (Reuters) - Energy will be among the sectors that bear the brunt of the European Union's decision to cut by 27 percent Poland's 2008-2012 carbon emissions quota, the environment minister said on Thursday.
The European Commission cut the annual quota for central Europe's biggest economy to 208.5 million tonnes as part of its attempts to shore up the emissions trading scheme, the EU's key tool to curb global warming.
By Gabriela Baczynska
WARSAW (Reuters) - Energy will be among the sectors that bear the brunt of the European Union's decision to cut by 27 percent Poland's 2008-2012 carbon emissions quota, the environment minister said on Thursday.
The European Commission cut the annual quota for central Europe's biggest economy to 208.5 million tonnes as part of its attempts to shore up the emissions trading scheme, the EU's key tool to curb global warming.
Environment Minister Maciej Nowicki said the quota reduction would be split unevenly between different sectors, but did not give details.
!ADVERTISEMENT!"I do not agree to an even split of the 27 percent carbon emission cut because there are sectors in the Polish economy that have modernized and are unable to cut emissions without sacrificing production levels," Nowicki said.
"This refers to cement plants, for example."
But other sectors, like energy, had not invested in modern technologies limiting green house gas emissions and should therefore be most affected by the emissions cuts, he said.
Some analysts suggest that if the energy sector shoulders the burden of the new CO2 allocations, power prices could rise by as much as 10 percent.
"Our preliminary calculations show that even if the energy sector experiences a cut of more than 27 percent, energy prices would grow by only 1-2 percent," Nowicki said.
Poland, together with six other eastern and central European countries, has filed a law suit against the European Commission's ruling on the quota cut, arguing that Poland's booming economy would suffer irreparable damage.
Nowicki said he would not propose withdrawing the challenge, even though analysts say chances of winning the case are poor.
He said Poland's final internal quota allocations, which should have been presented to the European Commission by the end of September, would be worked out by the Polish side by the end of February.
ENERGY SECURITY
Nowicki, who has been in his post for two weeks, said he wanted to resume talks with Japan with the aim of selling it part of Poland's excess emissions quotas under the Kyoto Protocol.
The tradable government-level credits, or AAUs, are being accumulated by Poland through domestic reductions in greenhouse gases.
The Kyoto Protocol aims to cut industrialized countries' emissions by eight percent between 2008 and 2012, and allows members to trade their excess quotas to others unable to meet their own targets.
Poland has reduced its emissions by about 32 percent since 1990, giving it excess AAUs it is intent on selling.
AAUs are not compatible with the EU's trading scheme.
Nowicki said he was personally against plans for Poland to increase its energy security by investing in the Ignalina nuclear plant project in Lithuania, which faces serious delays.
"I am personally against nuclear power plants in general, but I have not discussed this with the government, so is not Poland's official stand," Nowicki said.
"Poland still has a very wide margin of saving energy spending and we should concentrate on that instead."
(Editing by Anthony Barker)
