Greenpeace protests ahead of Poland climate summit

Greenpeace protestors on Tuesday scaled a massive chimney at Poland's Belchatow coal-fired power plant as one of Europe's largest polluters gears up to host the COP24 global climate summit.

"We want to draw the world's attention to the fact that climate change is real, that human tragedies are taking place before our eyes and that action is urgent," Greenpeace Poland activist Katarzyna Guzek told AFP via telephone.

She said nine activists from around the world had scaled the 180 metre (560 feet) tower as part of a Greenpeace campaign aimed at phasing out coal use.

"Belchatow is the largest coal-fired power station in the EU, one of the largest in the world and therefore the symbol of a system that kills life on our planet," Guzek added.

The activists were prepared to remain on the tower "for some time", Guzek said but refused to go into detail.

Maciej Szczepaniuk, a spokesman for Poland's PGE power group which owns the Belchatow facility in southern Poland told AFP that the "protest action has no impact on the functioning of the plant".

Delegations from nearly 200 countries will meet in the nearby Polish coal city of Katowice for the two-week COP24 summit which opens on Sunday.

Calling Poland a "major contributor to global warming", Guzek said: "On the one hand it is organising the summit and on the other hand it is announcing its energy program in which coal remains a staple fuel until 2060."