Poland must end coal dependency: Greenpeace

(WARSAW) - The environmental group Greenpeace on Thursday unveiled a plan for Poland to wean itself off its heavy and costly dependence on coal and at the same time slash carbon dioxide emissions.

"Contrary to general opinion, producing electricity from renewables will be less expensive than using coal and Poland could also profit from selling unused CO2 emissions quotas, green energy, bio-fuels and technologies," green energy expert Grzegorz Wisniewski told reporters in Warsaw.

The director of Poland's Institute for Renewable Energy (IEO) was a chief consultant to the Greenpeace report.

With a population of 38 million, 2004 EU member Poland generates 96 percent of its electricity in coal-fired power stations, making it the most coal-dependent state in the 27-member bloc.

According to Wisniewski, it also places coal-rich Poland among the world's top 19 carbon dioxide polluters.

Poland is now scrambling to ease the introduction of an EU-wide target to cut greenhouse gas emission by 20 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 to curb climate change.

Some Polish experts argue the country is still too poor for a switch to less-polluting energy sources quickly enough to meet the needs of its rapidly expanding economy. GDP growth is forecast to exceed five percent this year and four percent in 2009.

However, according to the Greenpeace 'Energy [R]evolution for Poland' report, significantly curbed dependence on coal and a switch to renewable resources would both fuel economic growth and maintain the energy security afforded by Poland's plentiful domestic coal reserves.

Poland's liberal government is currently developing a long-term energy strategy and is set to invest in an atomic energy project in neighbouring Lithuania, the first such move by nuclear-free Poland.