Polish Ambassador on Climate Change

Host:

Welcome to our interview program. Today, we are very glad to have this opportunity to talk with Tadeusz Chomicki, the ambassador of the Republic of Poland to China.

Good afternoon, Your Excellency!

Tadeusz Chomicki:

Good afternoon! It’s a pleasure to be with you!

Host:

The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in the late November this year in Durban, South Africa. We know climate change has become a global issue and nations are working together to address this problem. How is your country addressing this problem? What particular issues does Poland focus on?

Tadeusz Chomicki:

Well, certainly this is something that must be done globally. I mean, we cannot protect the environment in one place and neglect the environment in the other place, because we cannot put the boundaries, the borders, between the air, pollution and everything, so this is a common responsibility for the whole world. The EU as a whole has a very ambitious program of cutting the carbons, gas emission, etc. Poland is a member of the EU, we support that program; although, for us it’s a big challenge. Still, we think it’s necessary. And Poland has probably made the biggest progress in Europe on environmental protection. The level of protection is lower than in Northern Europe, [for example, in] Scandinavia—in Poland. But we made the biggest progress from what was 20 years ago and we have gained a lot of experiences.

This is one, in fact, of the fields that we would like to cooperate more with China. We are happy to share our experiences on the level of small communities, towns, cities of the provinces and whole systems. A lot of them we developed in Poland using the technology from other partners and we make it cheaper and more adaptable to our system. Now we are happy to share with partners like China. Also, together with China, we have a great interest in the clean coal production. A lot of your energy production is based on coal, so it is in Poland. So you have advanced research in that field. We would like to be more than happy to work with you in that field, clean coal energy. And also renewable sources. China already is the biggest producer of wind turbines and solar panels. This is the future; we need to do it together. So, this is very difficult, how to balance, as I said earlier, among the targets of [the] Polish presidency in the EU, how to balance the growth and the environmental protection. Each country is in a little bit [of a] different situation and we have to differentiate a little bit what we were doing. But certainly we have to work altogether, including Poland and China, to protect our planet, because otherwise we are killing our children and grandchildren.

Host:

As a major developing country and Carbon Dioxide emitter, China adheres to the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility”. What’s your comment on this principle?

Tadeusz Chomicki:

Of course, China is facing a big challenge to continue the growth and also to take a serious position on the environmental protection. But I must say that we see and we appreciate the efforts that the Chinese government is undertaking in that field. If you read the 12th Five-Year Plan, the sixty chapters of that plan, in about ten chapters, the question of environmental protection, climate change is addressed. So we see the importance that the Chinese government is attaching to this issue, but this is also a big challenge for the Chinese government, so we also understand that. Still, the target to limit the carbon intensity by 45% by the GDP unit produced is an ambitious one and a welcome one. So, on one hand, we welcome what the Chinese government already started to do. On the other hand, I would say we encourage [them] to do more and to be firm with the implementation. And that needs to be given to the lower level provinces, cities, and individual citizens. All of Chinese need to understand that economy development, yes, but not at the expense of killing our nature, because then, in a short time, we [will] have no space to live. The direction is right, the efforts are noticed. And I would like to encourage the Chinese government and Chinese people to continue and to increase these efforts.

Host:

Thank you for your watching. See you next time!