January 19, 2020 - Poland plans to move some coal stocks from mines to a central warehouse, Deputy Minister of State Assets Adam Gaweda said on Friday, as the government looks to reduce growing stockpiles which a mining union said threatened to choke operations.

The stocks at the mines have jumped in recent months due to falling power consumption. Gaweda estimated them at a total of 3 million tonnes.

One of the country’s coal mining trade unions called earlier this month on Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki to take immediate action to reduce the stockpiles.

“The situation in Polish coal mines is stable. The ministry has taken actions aimed at unblocking the stocks at all mines,” Gaweda told a press conference.

He added that the new warehouse with capacity of 1 million tonnes will be launched within days in central Poland and some of the coal could be moved there.

Poland still generates most of its energy from coal, but the share of this fossil fuel in power production fell to 74% last year, the lowest in history, Wysokienapiecie.pl portal calculated.

It was the only European Union member state not to sign up to the 2050 neutral-emissions goal in December, arguing its energy systems and economy are too dependent on coal and lignite to make the transition in that time.

Warsaw has said it would reduce emissions but at its own pace, which some analysts and environmentalists perceived as a negotiation tactic ahead of discussions about the EU climate fund.

It is unclear whether Warsaw will continue some of its planned coal projects, including the construction of a 1 GW coal-fuelled power plant in Ostroleka, north-east Poland, which has already started.

“Whether there will be changes, it will turn out after the investors’ agreements. The investment is being carried out. A potential change of the project, if it was to take place, is conditioned by the fact that the investment continues. Thus, a potential decision would have to be taken as soon as possible,” Gaweda told reporters.