COP 24 in Katowice?

Katowice may be ready to put its clout in event-hosting experience behind a Polish bid to host the United Nations Annual Climate Summit (known as COP) in two years' time, according to press reports on Tuesday. The initiator of the Katowice Congress and head of the events center that manages Spodek stadium, Wojciech Kuśpik, is leading a proposal to host the summit, partly because it could showcase Poland’s transition from its carbon-based electricity sector to use of more renewable energies, he indicated. “[We have had] talks with representatives of the government...actions to support the acquisition of the event to Katowice and Silesian region [have] involved parliamentarians,” Kuśpik said.  Reportedly, Deputy Minister of Energy Grzegorz Tobiszowski had shown interest in enlisting Kuśpik and Katowice as a host city in the days following this year’s UN Conference in Marrakech, Morocco. The authors of previous proposals emphasized that the area is well-suited for such an event, due to the relatively new International Convention Centre (ICC) in Katowice, and the fact that the ICC has organized the annual European Economic Congress, which has drawn several thousand domestic and international visitors. Kuśpik added that he has faith that the team seeking to bring the event to Katowice “has the support of people who were responsible for organizing COP19 [in Warsaw] in 2013. [We] have full knowledge of the scale and complexity of the event.”   The next step will involve review of a draft resolution at the next session of Silesian Voivodship regional councillors meeting, and, simultaneously, a review by the president of Katowice.