(WARSAW) - The environmental group Greenpeace took the Polish government to task Friday, saying Warsaw must do more to boost use of clean power sources in this largely coal-fired nation.

More than a dozen activists held a protest outside the country's economics ministry, with several scaling the building to unfurl a banner while others paraded at the entrance on stilts, dressed as wind turbines.

"Greenpeace urges the Polish government to stop hampering European Union efforts aimed at limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and to shift as fast as possible to using renewable energy," the organisation said in a statement.

The protest coincided with a visit to Warsaw by European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas, who Greenpeace hailed for his efforts to slash the 27-nation bloc's greenhouse gas emissions.

Poland, which has a population of 38 million, generates 96 percent of its electricity in power stations fired by coal, much of it from the country's still-plentiful Silesian reserves in the south.

Warsaw is concerned about planned EU curbs on emissions of carbon dioxide -- one of the main gases held responsible for global climate change -- which are meant to encourage the bloc's industry to switch to cleaner energy sources.

Polish experts say that the country lacks the financial resources for a rapid switch to less-polluting fossil-fuel power stations, nor will it be able to turn to other energy sources fast enough to meet the needs of its economy.

Like several other ex-communist EU nations which joined the bloc in 2004, Poland has complained that Brussels is failing to take into account the needs created by rapid growth.

Poland's economy is expanding by around six percent a year, keeping it near the top of the EU table.

With producers required to buy pollution permits under the EU's carbon-trading system if they want to exceed caps on emissions, the Polish government has warned electricity prices could rise by nearly one-fifth by 2012.

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