Poland President Vetos Amendment on CO2 Emissions

Poland's president has vetoed an amendment to the Kyoto protocol on CO2 emissions that extends the deadline for compliance because he believes the country needs more time to analyze its impact on the economy, his office said on Tuesday.

The Kyoto protocol, signed in 1997, imposed on all signatory countries an obligation to cut their carbon dioxide emissions by at least 5 percent in the period 2008-2012 versus 1990.

The 2012 Doha amendment extended the deadline by 2020.

Poland has already met its targets for 2008-12 under Kyoto.

President Andrzej Duda's office said Poland, which is reliant on heavily polluting coal, needs more time to analyze the possible impact of the Doha amendment on its economy.

His move comes two days after the victory of the conservative, eurosceptic Law and Justice party (PiS) in Poland's parliamentary election.

Duda was elected in May with the backing of PiS and the party has indicated it will take a much tougher stance in defending what it sees as Polish economic interests than the outgoing centrist, staunchly pro-European Union government.

The climate envoy of the outgoing government, Marcin Korolec, declined to comment on Duda's veto.

Earlier this month, PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski called for a renegotiation of an EU climate deal agreed last year, saying Poland needed more coal-based power stations.

The European Union agreed last year, after marathon negotiations, to cut greenhouse gases by 40 percent by 2030, pitting heavy industry against green business.

The emissions goal is also the basis of the EU position for the Paris climate change talks that start on Nov. 30. Poland is likely to meet stiff resistance from its EU partners if it attempts to reopen the climate deal.

(Reporting by Agnieszka Barteczko)