Poland looks to China for coal support in Copenhagen

Poland is looking to form an alliance with China in upcoming global climate talks to ensure that their economies are protected by any agreed targets, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said yesterday.

China and Poland, both deeply reliant on coal, should look to ensure that any targets agreed would not adversely tax them, and co-operate further on clean coal technologies.

Tusk's comments came on a four-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing.

"I expect that in China, we will find an ally for the global climate talks. We are in a similar situation due to our coal-based economies. We cannot allow fighting climate change to destroy them," he said.

Poland derives more than 90 per cent of its electricity from coal. It has no nuclear power plants and very little renewable energy.

The Copenhagen climate talks will take place at the end of the year, and environmentalists hope long term global reduction targets can be reached to build on the work of the Kyoto Protocol which runs out in 2012.

China's top climate negotiator said recently he saw little chance of signing up to any new deal, despite the countries increasing warmth towards the environmental agenda.

China uses more coal than the US, the EU and Japan combined and has increased coal consumption 14 per cent in each of the last two years opening a new coal fired power station every 10 days.

Tusk said he, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would hold a videoconference on Friday with UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon on the negotiations and preparations for the climate summit.

Tusk wants to delay EU plans to make industry pay fully for carbon dioxide emission permits from 2013.