President Duda at COP27: climate is very important, but so is energy security

The summit kicked off on Sunday (November 6) with an agreement to discuss compensating poor nations for mounting damage linked to global warming, placing the controversial topic on the agenda for the first time since climate talks began decades ago.

The agreement set a constructive tone for the COP27 summit in the seaside resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, where governments hope to keep alive a goal to avert the worst impacts of planetary warming even as a slew of crises - from a land war in Europe to rampant inflation - distract the international focus.

President Andrzej Duda - greeted by Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - said this year's summit was taking place under specific circumstances "as for the first time the world has to deal with a situation in which while we're carrying out the energy transformation process towards renewable sources and gradual shift in energy profile of the countries, we have come across a sharp change in the aspect of international relations". In this context, he pointed to the growing energy prices, which were among the main topics on the COP27 agenda.

In his view, two ideas "have in a way collided" in that aspect. "So far, we've been saying that we need transformation as soon as possible, that it should happen immediately. I underscored that energy transformations very positively affect the development of countries, as they generate research and growth ... But today we need to say it clearly: the most important problem, apart from achieving climate protection goals, is also ensuring energy safety" - he underscored.

In this context, he paid specific attention to countries in which people need to heat their homes in winter. "Today, it is a huge problem for a number of countries, including European ones like Poland," Duda added.

President Duda also argued that the transformation should be done in a rational and fair way, so that it is advantageous for humans, "rather than making a human life harder".

Polish president reminded that the idea of Just Transition had been presented for the first time back in 2018, at the COP24 in Katowice, adding, however, that this idea should now assume a new element. "The Russian aggression against Ukraine, completely unjustified and criminal, has caused such gigantic perturbations on the energy market."

"Luckily, we have managed to build interconnectors in time, as well as secure alternative gas supply sources for Poland," he said. "Today, we have the LNG terminal in Świnoujście, where we can accomodate gas from all over the world, the United States or Qatar among others. We also have the Baltic Pipe," president Duda stressed.

He also mentioned the policy of the Three Seas Initiative which - in his opinion - is an example of success Poland has been enjoying. "Despite Russia cutting off our supplies, we are secured energy-wise thanks to the cooperation and infrastructure development under the framework of the Three Seas Initiative," Andrzej Duda said.