Agnieszka Tomaszewska

« Biomass market in... | Main | Strategic Programme... »

Friday 03 July, 2009

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.