Polish President Andrzej Duda on Tuesday vetoed the ratification of an extension to the Kyoto Protocol to 2020, a largely symbolic move that is a sign Poland will adopt an even tougher stance against EU climate policy than in recent years.

He added that he first wants the potential impacts of the treaty’s second phase on the coal-reliant Polish economy to be studied.

Duda’s eurosceptic Law & Justice (PiS) party is on course for a parliamentary majority after Sunday’s elections on the back of pledges to seek an opt-out of EU climate policies.

Poland’s previous government agreed to the Kyoto extension at UN talks in 2012 but had previously stalled on ratifying the legally-binding treaty in an attempt to win better concessions when agreeing EU-wide emission goals.

The EU, and a handful of other developed nations including Australia and Norway representing less than 15% of global GHGs, agreed to extend their Kyoto emission targets to build trust with developing nations in negotiations towards a wider global pact due to be signed in December in Paris.

The EU’s 2020 Kyoto target is in line with a domestic bloc-wide target to cut emissions 20% under 1990 levels, a goal it is on course to overachieve by 4-5 percentage points, according to the European Environment Agency.

By Ben Garside – ben@carbon-pulse.com