Greenpeace to pitch protest camp at UN climate talks in Poznan

Greenpeace activists on Thursday climbed down a smokestack they scaled two days ago at a coal-fired power plant in central Poland, saying they would now pitch a protest camp at the site of UN climate talks in nearby Poznan.

"The politicians negotiating at Poznan need to get serious about preventing dangerous climate change," Gavin Edwards, head of Greenpeace's global climate campaign, said referring to the UN climate conference that lasts until December 12.

"That's why we're moving our base-camp into Poznan, to let them know the world is watching," he said, after having himself climbed down from the 150-metre (500-foot) high smokestack.

"Nothing does more damage to the climate than coal power," he added. Greenpeace activists originally scaled the huge chimney at the Patnow brown coal-fired electricity plant in a bid to urge Poland to agree to European environment reforms.

"Quit Coal, Save the Planet," read one of the banners the activists strung across the chimney.

A 2004 EU entrant, Poland, which depends on coal for 94 percent of its electricity, supports the objectives of the EU's planned climate package, but has refused to agree to its terms arguing they would see energy prices skyrocket and so thwart economic growth.

The European Union climate package, which the 27-member bloc is expected to adopt at its December 11-12 summit in Brussels, sets targets of giving renewable energy a 20-percent stake in the electricity market, reducing CO2 emissions by 20 percent and increasing energy efficiency by 20 percent by 2020 compared with 1990 levels.

If adopted, experts say it will serve as a model for further cuts in the emission of the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

Greenpeace has launched the global "Quit Coal" campaign, constructing a huge canvas dome bearing the colours of Earth next to an open-pit brown coal mine in Konin, central Poland.

The dome hosts the Climate Rescue Station, where Greenpeace activists have been camped out since November 12.

The station is expected to move to Poznan in time for the arrival of the world's environment ministers at UN climate talks next week, Bart van Opzeeland, of Greenpeace International told AFP.