Poland Considering Working With China To Ensure GHG Treaties Don't "Harm Their Economies" - Reuters

BEIJING (Reuters) - China and Poland, both deeply reliant on coal, could collaborate in global climate talks to ensure fighting greenhouse gases does not harm their economies, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

Tusk, on a four-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing, said he had also discussed with Chinese officials and entrepreneurs the prospects for cooperation on clean coal technologies. "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 told a news conference in the Chinese capital.

Poland, the European Union's largest ex-communist member, derives more than 90 percent of its electricity from coal. It has no nuclear power plants and virtually no renewable energy sources. Poland is set to host this year's U.N.-led negotiations aimed at clinching a new worldwide climate deal.

The current Kyoto Protocol runs out in 2012 and sets no emission targets for developing countries such as China. The United States also did not sign up to the accord.

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