Agnieszka Tomaszewska

Act on climate change

2009-10-27T14:29:14+00:00

As you know, the aim of the projects supported from the FCO Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth is to promote low carbon economy that at the same time contributes to high economic growth. Three such projects are currently implemented in Poland and I have already described them in my blog. This time I would like to encourage you to visit a website called “Climate Success”. There you will find examples of companies, local authorities and other organisations from different countries that have succeeded in implementing solutions reducing their negative impact on climate. They include insulating the existing buildings or building new ones using environment friendly technologies, switching to low carbon production or increasing the share of renewable energy sources in generating electricity and heat. As you can see from the examples presented at the “Climate Success” site, pro-climate actions can also be quite profitable, which can be seen when you pay your bills for electricity, gas, water or waste collection. Unfortunately, I have not found a single example from Poland on the site. Have you heard of anything that would be worth showing to others? If so, it would, perhaps, be a good idea to describe such cases and submit them to the site administrator.

While focusing in my work on project coordination, I do not have much time to surf the web looking for information. And yet, there are two websites that I would like to recommend to you in view of the coming Climate Summit in Copenhagen.
The first one, “Act on Copenhagen”, is an official site of the UK government, containing information about the activities of various groups which strive for an ambitious global climate agreement in Copenhagen. Views of business people appear here side by side with scientific experts opinions and interviews with government officials. Recently, an interactive map of the world has been launched, illustrating probable economic and social consequences of an increase of air temperature by 4 degrees Celsius as a result of climate change. The map has been developed by distinguished scientists from the UK Met Office Hadley Centre. Its copies have just been sent to foreign ministers of a number of countries, vital for the success of the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen. I know that the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Radosław Sikorski received the map on 22 October.

The “Act on CO2” website contains valuable guidance on what every one of us can do in our own households or workplaces in order to reduce CO2 emissions. The carbon footprint calculator available on the page will let you calculate the amount of carbon emissions resulting from all your activities and prepare an individual carbon footprint reduction plan. Most of us will not go to the Copenhagen summit but we can all do something good for the climate by changing our ways.

Ed Miliband in Poland

2009-10-12T13:49:10+01:00

On 7 October I had a chance to meet Ed Miliband (on the photograph). The UK Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change came to Poland to hold meetings with representatives of the Polish government before the COP15 climate negotiations in Copenhagen. He talked to the Minister of Finance, Mr. Jacek Rostowski and to senior officials of the Office of the Committee for European Integration, Ministry of Economy and other departments. He also gave an interview to the Rzeczpospolita daily.

In the afternoon, we arrived at the Warsaw School of Economics, where Ed Miliband gave a speech on why it is necessary to sign an ambitious global agreement to address climate change. In the Minister’s opinion, both moral arguments and responsibility for the planet we are going to leave to future generations as well as economic reasons call for such a solution. The cost of tackling climate change is currently estimated at the level of 1% GDP, but if we decide to act only in ten or twenty years, the cost will be much higher. Ed Miliband also said that in order to reduce the costs of CO2 emissions, China, India and other big economies of the world should actively join the fight against climate change. The Minister indicated, however, that according to the UK, rich countries should support developing countries financially and help fund the projects leading to carbon reduction, as it would be impossible for those countries to finance such expensive projects on their own. At the end of his speech, Mr. Milliband quoted Jacek Kuroń, who said “Who if not you?”, the question that reminds us all that we are the ones who are responsible for what is happening around us and for the legacy we are going to leave to future generations. I think that these words could be a good motto for the Copenhagen summit.

I must say that I really enjoyed the question-and-answer part of the lecture, with questions asked by the audience: students, non-governmental organisations and representatives of business. While answering those questions, Ed Miliband had to talk about things as diverse as the role of business in fighting climate change and support that could be given by individual governments, through nuclear energy, to Al Gore’s documentary, to what UK would perceive as a success of the Copenhagen Summit, with only 60 days to the conference date.

Polish energy experts on a study visit to the UK

2009-10-09T13:14:36+01:00

I am just browsing through photographs from a study visit to the UK of Ms. Ewa Kałuzińska and Mr. Bronisław Nowak, local government experts from Lubin and Cieszyn. The visit was a special prize funded by the British Embassy in the Most Energy Efficient Community in Poland competition, organised by the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency.
The visit in Woking , Leicester and Southampton took place in mid September and was one of our very special projects. Polish experts had an opportunity to see some practical aspects of fighting climate change and to visit the projects recently completed in those cities. The sites included railway stations, sports centres with roofs covered with solar panels and photovoltaic cells as well as small CHP units generating heat and electricity for the local area. The participants also visited cultural centres and houses of highest energy efficiency standards.
I know that it has been a very good study visit so I would like to thank all our partners involved in organising it. The photos I’ve received will be used to illustrate the interview that I’m going to carry out with the participants. We will publish the interview on our Embassy website and will make it available to all organisations interested in the UK experience with tackling climate change.

Warsaw, David Miliband on climate change and Copenhagen

2009-09-25T14:14:31+01:00

It is still 80 days to the climate conference in Copenhagen. This is an important time to take the last decisions before the global agreement opening the post-Kyoto period is signed.
The United Kingdom and the EU member states are trying to make the obligations that will be undertaken in Copenhagen ambitious. That is why the UK Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, has recently visited a few European capitals in order to talk about climate and energy issues. On 8 September he visited Poland. The visit was an important event in the life of our Embassy.
One of the points of his agenda was a visit to the “Siekierki” heat and power station in Warsaw, where he was accompanied by the Polish and Swedish foreign ministers, Radosław Sikorski and Carl Bildt. The “Siekierki” heat and power station is owned by Vattenfall Poland. It is the largest CHP facility in Poland and the second largest in Europe. In the years 2007-2008 the Swedish investor modernised the plant, which made it possible to significantly reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. At the moment, in its plants, Vattenfall Poland is implementing one of the biggest environmental programmes in Poland. Their most immediate investment plans include construction of a CCS installation.
Our Climate and Energy Team cooperates with Vattenfall Poland and Vattenfall Heat Poland on a project implemented by the Polish Confederation of Private Employers Lewiatan. The project concerns low emission solutions for business (“Promoting low carbon energy mix solutions for business sectors”) and is financed from the UK Foreign Office fund promoting low carbon economy while sustaining high economic growth (“Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth”). The aims of the project include raising awareness of CCS in Poland and promoting the use of biomass for energy purposes.

Help us to make our blogs better

2009-09-01T19:42:38+01:00

A request from the FCO blogs team: tell us what you think about our blogs so that we can improve them.

We want to know what you like and dislike about our blogs, what you’d like to see our bloggers writing about, and how you feel about the style of our articles.

To get your feedback we’ve created a short survey. It should only take a few minutes to complete and it will really help us to understand your thoughts and feelings.

Please help us to make this blog better and take the survey.

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The new, environment friendly Embassy building in Warsaw

2009-08-07T13:10:51+01:00

We have just moved to the new building of the British Embassy in Warsaw, at 12 Kawalerii Street. It has been built in just over a year, according to the latest security and energy efficiency standards. On the outside, the building is covered with a double layer of glass which regulates the intake of heat from outside the building. The structure blends very well with the surroundings and contains a number of environment friendly solutions.

A brand new computer system and all the Embassy staff in one building – this is something that we have been waiting for years. It will certainly improve the communication between teams and will increase the efficiency of the project implementation and fulfilment of other tasks, both those of FCO and other government departments. Apart from that, we have modern furniture and office equipment, plants in spaces specially designed for that purpose on the first floor and a pleasant looking roof terrace on the second. And I am getting used to working in the open plan layout…

The move itself was preceded by a few days of intensive packing, cleaning up the computer system and putting the folders in order. It was a very interesting time in the life of the Embassy and I’m glad that I could be a part of it.

Even though I liked the previous Embassy seat (a historical little palace at Al. Róż 1) for its architecture, the move to the new premises has been a positive change in many respects. I think that we are just starting to see it, with every subsequent day in the new place.

Strategic Programme Fund: Low Carbon High Growth

2009-07-29T16:18:48+01:00

On 9 and 10 June I took part in a seminar in London, organised by the Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth (SPF LCHG) Team. It was my first opportunity to meet colleagues from 23 British embassies coordinating SPF LCHG projects.

I think that the seminar was a great success, its best aspects including experience presentations and discussions on what worked and what did not work in the individual countries. Apart from the SPF LCHG Team, very interesting talks were given by representatives of countries such as China, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, India or the United States. We also spent much time discussing selection and implementation of strategic projects in the area of climate, energy and economic reform.

We shared our experiences in ongoing project monitoring and in assessing projects already completed. Also, I very much liked the seminar's part dedicated to best practice in drafting project applications.

I had the pleasure to present the strategy and communication tools for the SPF LCHG programme in Poland.

Many thanks to the SPF LCHG Team for organising the seminar and to colleagues from other embassies for their very interesting contributions. We are working on many common topics, therefore I hope that we will have more opportunities to cooperate in the future.

Three ways to improve the climate

2009-07-03T15:32:32+01:00

The past few days have witnessed a series of climate and energy events. It is impossible to describe all, I will therefore only mention some of them.

First, 17 June saw a seminar for sectoral media, organised by Lewiatan under the motto "Three ways to improve the climate". A dozen-so journalists attending the event familiarised themselves with reports on energy efficiency, biomass and CCS, compiled in the wake of the SPF LCHG project I wrote about last time. The meeting spurred a lively discussion, with many interesting questions asked. I know that information on the report on development possibilities for the biomass market also appeared on the Economic Portal wnp.pl, one of the best sources of up to date information on energy generation.

Second, we had the QBP, or the annual party to celebrate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II, hosted by Ambassador Ric Todd in his residence. We celebrated the occasion together with our project partners and climate and energy experts from public administration and non-governmental organisations. On the morning of that day the International Energy Agency held an important meeting in the Ministry of Economy, devoted to prospects for the development of CCS technologies in Poland. The so-called round table was attended by government experts, energy companies and representatives of social organisations, including institutions implementing CCS-related SPF LCHG projects.

On Friday 19 June our Climate and Energy Team met with coordinators and participants of Challenge Europe, a regional British Council project. Climate advocates informed us of their concepts of internet projects they would like to carry out in the near future. We in turn told them how to apply for funds promoting low-carbon economy and familiarised them with the projects we support. Head of our Team Michael Halpin admitted that the Embassy could not provide funding for internet portals, therefore we tried to ponder on other forms of cooperation. We exchanged our business cards and I trust that we will stay in touch. We will also be happy to host climate advocates at our events.

And this brings us to a new week. On 22 June the Ministry of Environment organised another in a series of meetings as part of the "Partnership for Climate" initiative that had chiefly aimed at engaging various organisations in the preparation of the COP14 Conference in Poznań. The initiative saw numerous events, exhibitions and open events related to climate change. Following the success achieved in 2008, the Ministry has resolved to continue the initiative for another year. Therefore I am all the more glad that we have been actively participating in it since the very beginning.

And on the next day, 23 June, Poland hosted British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on his first visit to this country. Climate and energy were among the numerous subjects he discussed with his Polish partners. What is more, he also referred to them in his speech on the European Union's future agenda, delivered in the Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw.

Biomass market in Poland

2009-06-29T15:23:26+01:00

On 5 June I went to Płońsk to attend a conference devoted to the production of energy crops for use by the energy sector. The conference officially launched the PKPP Lewiatan project on the development of the biomass market in Poland.

The 150 participants included farmers, agricultural advisors from local branches of the Mazovia Agricultural Advisory Centre and local authorities. Business was represented by Vattenfall Heat Poland S.A., who presented the results of a feasibility study of an energy willow plantation. I learned from the presentation that willow is a perennial plant, which is grown for 15-20 years, and is harvested every 3 years. In Poland it may be best grown on class III-VI soil and the size of a plantation recommended by Vattenfall Heat is 10-20 hectares.

As far as I know, the climate and energy package, adopted in December 2008, assumes that by 2020, the European Union will have reduced the CO2 emissions by 20%. In case of Poland, in order to reach this objective, the proportion of renewable energy, including biomass, in the energy mix should be 15%. However, experts say, that there is little awareness of the role farmers can play in fulfilling the EU commitments. In order to address this challenge, PKPP Lewiatan has prepared a practical guide for farmers, “Growing crops for the energy sector”. It contains information about where, when and what plants to grow. The guide is available at the website of PKPP Lewiatan as well as in the seat of the organisation.

In my view, the meeting in Płońsk provided a good opportunity for dialogue between business and farmers. The former have presented an offer of cooperation, while the farmers shared their concerns whether biomass production would be sufficient for them to make a living. We have not seen a lot of meetings like that in Poland so far. Therefore I think that the Płońsk seminar was an important event. I wonder if and how this cooperation will develop.

Poles on climate change

2009-05-18T13:21:20+01:00

We have recently carried out an interesting project. It was a public opinion survey on the views and attitudes of the Polish people concerning climate change. The project’s final event was a press conference held on 29 April. With this survey we have responded to a number of suggestions addressed to the Embassy Climate and Energy Team by various organisations who believed that such a project would help them in their work on climate policy and promotion of low carbon economy. Our partner in the project was The Public Opinion Research Centre (CBOS), one of the oldest and the biggest public opinion research centres in Poland.

Which parts of the report have I found the most interesting?

· Over 80% of respondents believe that climate change is a serious problem, and more than 90% declare that they are involved in activities aiming at preventing climate change.
· 51% of respondents support the construction of nuclear power stations, and 38.4% are against it.
· 59% support the implementation of carbon capture and storage technologies (CCS) in Poland, and 16% oppose them. At the same time, every fourth respondent does not know what CCS is.

I have also learnt that the public figures most often mentioned as those who could really persuade the Poles to take action to protect the climate, are Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Lech Kaczyński. Among organisations and companies, the respondents most frequently named Greenpeece and Zieloni (the Green), who stood out as the leaders of the list.

I must admit that I was surprised by the lack of faith among Poles (only 9% of respondents) in the role business could play in protecting the climate. This role is rather attributed to central government (67.5%) and local government (32.9%). Whereas to me it seems that enterprises have a great potential to play a significant role here. This is what happened in the United Kingdom, where for many years business has been involved in public debate on fighting climate change. Such projects are implemented, for instance, by CBI.

Both the CBOS report and a record of the discussion of experts that took place during the press conference, will soon be available. I would like to recommend this material especially to the organisations interested in carrying out social projects related to climate change.

Time to celebrate

2009-05-12T15:36:58+01:00

That was a good day. DemosEuropa project application“Carbon Capture and Storage as a preferred technology for mainstreaming the clean use of coal in Poland” was approved by the Programme Fund Strategic Team. We met to celebrate our success.

The project will be launched in the coming weeks and will last until April 2011. As part of the project, DemosEuropa is planning to prepare three reports. The first will deal with regulatory and legislative issues, the second will assess the impact of CCS implementation in Poland. The third report will focus on the cooperation between business community and R&D centres.

But the project is not just about the reports. It will also include a number of study visits, consultation and experience sharing between Polish and British partners. You will soon be able to read about the project details on the DemosEuropa website. Congratulations to the DemosEuropa team, I look forward to contining our cooperation.

Energy efficiency and Polish industry

2009-04-17T15:25:51+01:00

As a part of the project “Promoting low carbon energy mix solutions for Polish business sectors”, PKPP Lewiatan in cooperation with the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency (KAPE) have prepared a report which provides an analysis of the energy efficiency of the key Polish energy consuming industries: food industry, paper industry, chemical industry, mineral and steel industry. Last week the contents of the report were discussed during two events I had the pleasure to attend.

On 25 March I visited the headquarters of KAPE which hosted a meeting of representatives of the biggest chemical companies. During the meeting the businessmen talked about barriers to introducing low carbon solutions in their businesses. It was interesting to hear about practical ways to increase energy efficiency of Polish enterprises. They included improving the efficiency of lighting systems, pumps, boilers or air conditioning systems. The list of recommendations is long and its full version can be found in the report.

On 26 March I attended another meeting, with representatives of the Economic Committee and the Energy Sub-Committee of the Polish Parliament, representatives of the Ministry of Economy and the Energy Regulatory Office. The parts of the report presented by KAPE and PKPP Lewiatan on that occasion focused on those measures improving energy efficiency that depended mainly on the government policy and actions. They included a mechanism of voluntary long term obligations or, similar to the solutions adopted in the UK, forms of regular consultation between the industry, the government and the public. The meeting participants wondered which of those solutions could be applied in Poland in the near future and what the Parliament and the government planned to do in order to encourage businesses to improve their energy efficiency.

I was glad to hear that the project supported by the Embassy was important for Polish economy and that there was scope for cooperation between Poland and United Kingdom in sharing good practice. If we manage to arrange a visit to Poland of Carbon Trust and other UK institutions dealing with energy efficiency it will be the first important step towards developing this cooperation.

2020 Package and Poland

2009-04-03T13:51:13+01:00

On 23 March, I attended a seminar where the initial results of the report “Changes in the EU climate policy – consequences for the Polish economy” were discussed. The report had been prepared by a team of experts from the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) led by Prof. Grażyna Wojtkowska-Ładej. The work on the report had been co-funded by the British Embassy.

The seminar presentations dealt with individual aspects of the Climate and Energy Package adopted in December 2008 and their potential impact on the Polish economy. Apart from some negative consequences, such as for instance, a rise of energy prices, examples of positive impact were also given. In the long term, investment in modern low carbon technology will not only make it possible to reduce CO2 emissions by Polish enterprises but it may also help improve the competitiveness of Poland as compared to other economies. One of the arguments used was that there was a great room for emissions reduction in Polish economy.

During the seminar, a lot of time was devoted to the improvement of energy efficiency. The experts were of the opinion that Poland should have no problems with fulfilling the EU requirements in this area. As far as I am aware, it is exactly this element of the package that has become the main priority of the Polish energy policy “Polish energy policy by 2030”, that is now taking shape. It was interesting to hear during the seminar that the UK was named as a possible source of good practice in energy efficiency improvement.

The experts also found a lot of potential in renewable sources of energy (RE). The findings of the Report show that even though the renewable sources of energy do raise the cost of energy, they also offer a range of possibilities, including creation of new jobs in renewable energy sector or increased income from export of biomass.

The Climate and Energy Package poses a number of challenges for Poland. Some seminar participants emphasised that the Package did not really lead to achieving the goals connected, e.g., with energy security and that the EU Emissions Trading Scheme was not business friendly. The fact that the Package had drawn attention to the specific character of the economies in this part of Europe was quoted as a positive side of the compromise reached in December 2008 in Brussels.

The report by SGH experts, even though it does not analyse all the details of the Climate and Energy Package and all the materials available on the subject, may become an important stimulus for debate, not only among academics but also in the business community or in government circles. I look forward to following these discussions.

The report will soon be translated into English, which will make it available as a source material for other international events. By the end of April it will also appear in an electronic version.

Carbon Trust needed...

2009-03-19T09:54:26+00:00

A number of activities aiming to increase energy efficiency assume cooperation with the business. This is certainly true about the project of PKPP Lewiatan "Promoting legislation and good practice to support improvement of energy efficiency in Poland".

PKPP Lewiatan, in cooperation with the Polish National Energy Conservation Agency, have prepared a report on the most energy-consuming industries in Poland. Those include chemical industry, steel, glass, cement industries and many others. The Report identifies barriers to the implementation of solutions promoting energy efficiency in industrial plants and gives practical advice on how to reduce the industrial processes energy consumption.

One of the Report's recommendations is to form an organisation in Poland that would operate on similar principles as the Carbon Trust in the UK. The British Embassy has just been asked to assist in the preparation of a visit by Carbon Trust representatives to Poland. The visit would provide a chance to discuss practical aspects of the Trust's activities. We know that a lot of people and organisations are interested in meeting the British experts. I hope that in the coming months I will have a chance to report on the visit and let you know about its outcomes.

We are speeding up...

2009-03-13T14:13:06+00:00

We are approaching the end of the FCO's financial year, which means speeding up the work on some of the projects. Every day brings new challenges and new experience. Our activities require preparation and time, and there is always too little of the latter...

Last week, the Public Opinion Research Centre CBOS, and the British Embassy, agreed the final version of the questionnaire to poll the Polish public about climate change perception. As it usually happens with this type of projects, choosing the right wording for the questions and all the consultations that involved, required a lot of commitment on the part of the Energy and Climate Team, the Embassy’s Press and Communications Section as well as CBOS, which had won the project delivery competition. It was important to us that in the poll, the climate issues should be treated in a comprehensive way and the views shared by the respondents should be as close to the reality as possible. The CBOS pollsters are already in the field with the questionnaires and we can’t wait to see the survey results!

A few days ago, I had the pleasure to meet Mr. Tom Corcut, economic advisor and the Head of the Carbon Emissions Trading Team at the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. Tom came to Poland for the launch of a UKIE [Polish Office of the Committee for European Integration] project, Impact Assessment for Poland of the EU ETS Directive. The project is implemented with the support of demosEuropa and the British Embassy and co-funded from the UK FCO programme supporting low carbon economy - Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth (SPF LCHG). Tom Corcut gave a presentation on Impact Assessment for ETS Directive in the UK and answered questions from Polish experts interested in using the British methodology in preparing the Impact Assessment for Poland. It was the first of a series of consultation meetings planned under the project, so I believe I will soon be able to write more about the progress of the works.

Our list of tasks for the nearest future includes a semi-annual report on projects implementation, work on another set of project proposals which we will present to SPF LCHG next week. On top of that, there will be some new events to coordinate in the coming weeks. There is no time for boredom in the Climate and Energy Team!

Representative of DECC at a CCS conference in Warsaw

2009-03-02T15:05:58+00:00

On 10 February, the British Embassy in Warsaw, had the pleasure to hold an international conference "CCS and other clean coal technologies – Poland's prospective trademark?" In my opinion, it was one of the biggest events devoted to the issue of carbon capture and storage in Poland.

Over 200 people, including some distinguished guests from Poland and abroad, participated in the conference. The panel consisted of representatives of governments, the European Commission, non-governmental organisations and businesses. The debate was very lively and engaged the advocates and the opponents of CCS. A lot of people emphasised the need for further research and construction of demonstration plants where the efficacy and safety of this technology could be tested. The sceptics stressed that CCS technology did not really reduce CO2 emissions but only transferred it from the atmosphere under the ground.

One of the special guests was Polish deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Mr. Waldemar Pawlak. He confirmed that Poland wanted to follow the countries applying clean coal technologies. That is important since approximately 95% of electricity generated in Poland comes from coal. Waldemar Pawlak also confirmed that Polish government should make all the efforts necessary to have two of the CCS demonstration plants located in Poland.

At the conference, I had a chance to meet Ms. Rachel Crisp, the Deputy Director of the Cleaner Fossil Fuels Unit within the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change, whom we invited to Poland for that occasion. In her presentation, Rachel focused on presenting the institutional and legislative framework preceding the practical implementation of CCS technology and she announced the publication of the British government CCS strategy planned for summer 2009.

The event was enhanced with the presentation of a video promoting CCS technology, produced by the CCS Education Initiative. The film is also available on You Tube.

The main organiser of the conference was demosEuropa – Centre for European Strategy, the initiators of the series of debates under the common title "Can green make money? Prospects for competitiveness-friendly climate policy". A full report of the conference (in Polish) and the list of speakers together with their PowerPoint presentations are available on their website. It was another successful event organised jointly by the Embassy's Climate and Energy Team and demosEuropa.

London calling…

2009-02-10T15:30:22+00:00

After a few days of fighting a nasty flu that seemed to have taken control of Warsaw, on 27 January, I went to London. And I noticed that winter was following in my footsteps to the UK. Believe me, I had not planned that ;)

During my visit in London I met a representative of the Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth (SPF LCHG) team, which coordinates the allocation of funds and activities related to implementation of projects, including the Polish ones. As a result of our talks, a representative of SPF LCHG had been invited to visit Warsaw in May. It will be a perfect opportunity to meet organisations implementing the projects and to see how they operate on a day-to-day basis.

During the rest of my stay I attended a programme management training course which, I suppose, significantly influenced my views on how to coordinate several projects seeking a common goal. In case of SPF projects, this goal is to support investment in low carbon economy. All project proposals submitted to our Embassy's Climate and Energy Team should satisfy this requirement so that we can effectively cooperate with our Polish partners and share with them the UK experience in tackling climate change.

... and things keep happening at a breathtaking pace.

2009-01-26T11:33:51+00:00

Together with the Press & Communications section, we have been involved in consultations with opinion polling centres interested in carrying out research on climate change perception among Polish people. It is one of the most interesting social projects we have the pleasure to support. I'm very glad to be able to be a part of it.

Over the last few weeks, a number of new ideas for cooperation with Polish partners have reached our Climate and Energy Team. Most of them involve presentation of UK experience in fighting climate change, including the use of new technology, improving energy efficiency or increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy generation and distribution systems. Some of those projects would be worth implementing before the end of the financial year (that is before the end of March). Others will have to wait until April. Some examples of projects implemented with our support in 2008 can be found on our website.

2008 went by so fast...

2009-01-08T10:51:41+00:00

Just before Christmas, the Projects Committee held a meeting, chaired by Michael Halpin, the Head of the British Embassy Climate and Energy Team. We selected the best five proposals for low carbon economy projects submitted to the Embassy by Polish organisations.

Two of them involve carbon capture and storage (CCS) technologies. This is an important issue for the UK. David Miliband , UK Foreign Secretary, mentioned it recently in his blog. It has also been attracting more and more interest in Poland, especially in the context of the Climate-Energy Package.

The other projects refer to issues such as improving energy efficiency and increasing the share of renewable energy in the energy mix. The institutions which submitted the projects include non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and research institutes. Following the meeting, we sent the projects to the Project Committee of the FCO Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth - SPF LCHG . In mid-January we shall find out which proposals will pass on to the next stage of the competition.

I would really like our projects to be approved by the SPF LCHG as they are both interesting and innovative. Their implementation will promote investment in modern technologies and job creation. New jobs may appear in those sectors of the economy which will develop as a result of climate protection activities. This has already happened in some Western European countries.

The year 2008 was a fascinating time in the history of the still quite young British Embassy Climate and Energy Team. Between April and December we were involved in a number of visits, meetings and events, preceding the COP14 climate conference in Poznań and the EU summit in Brussels. I can't remember ever before meeting, in such a short time, so many people devoted to climate protection. I know that we will go on working together in the coming year and that we will all face some more breakthroughs in the near future. I will certainly write about them in my blog.

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year!

Launch of a CCS project

2009-01-05T16:18:47+00:00

My name is Agnieszka Tomaszewska and I am a projects coordinator at the Climate and Energy Team at the British Embassy in Warsaw. The Team was created in April 2008, and this is my first entry in this blog. I am glad that I will be able to tell you what we do and in particular, to share information about climate and energy projects implemented in Poland with the support of the British Embassy.

I recently came back from Poznań. Since 1st December, the COP 14 meeting has been in progress there. Experts and politicians from almost all countries of the world have been reflecting on the future of the global climate policy. Under the COP14 logo, apart from negotiations carried out by state delegations, a number of exhibitions have been organised as well as information stands and other accompanying events.

The reason for my visit in Poznań, and actually not Poznań itself but the village of Będlewo, 30 km from Poznań, was the launch of a CSS (carbon capture and storage) project. The project is implemented by the Polish Confederation of Private Employers (PKPP Lewiatan) (a Polish equivalent of CBI) in cooperation with the Polish Platform for Clean Coal Technology. It is supported by the British Embassy in the form of a grant from the Strategic Programme Fund Low Carbon High Growth (SPF LCHG) , a UK FCO programme promoting low carbon economy.

Even though CCS was not the main topic of the conference in Będlewo, which bore the title “Clean coal and nuclear technologies for combating climate change”, this issue did raise a lot of interest. It is generally known that Polish government wants two of the CCS demonstration plants to be located in Poland. However, there is no consensus in the EU yet, as to the source of funding for this project. It seems that an agreement on this may be reached during the Climate and Energy Package discussions later this week.

The representatives of the Polish government and the energy sector, attending the conference, admitted that CCS technologies may be successfully applied in Poland and prof. Jerzy Buzek – a Member of the European Parliament and the conference organiser – emphasised that Poland should become a European leader in clean coal technologies. However, CCS installations are very expensive and there is still a number of questions to be answered before the construction works can begin. The project of PKPP Lewiatan provides a good opportunity to launch a national debate over those issues.

On my way back from the conference I looked through a few project applications submitted to the Embassy for a new low carbon projects competition. For a few weeks now I have been sending comments back to the applicant organisations. The consultation process takes some time but I would really like the applications to be very well prepared: they must fulfill the SPF LCHG criteria, must be clear and transparent. Only the best applications will be sent to London in mid December, where the SPF LCHG team will assess them and decide whether funds can be awarded. There are still so many fascinating projects that could be implemented in Poland. I look forward to seeing more!