Can Stavros Dimas successfully defend the environment against economic gloom?

China and Poland, both deeply reliant on coal, could collaborate in global climate talks to ensure fighting greenhouse gases does not harm their economies, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday.

Tusk, on a four-day visit to Shanghai and Beijing, said he had also discussed with Chinese officials and entrepreneurs the prospects for cooperation on clean coal technologies.

Japan signed an agreement on Tuesday to buy allowances from Poland to emit greenhouse gas, helping Tokyo achieve its goals under the Kyoto Protocol, Japan's trade ministry said.

The deal, signed in Warsaw, is the fourth for the Japanese government following similar agreements with Hungary, Ukraine and the Czech Republic.

Poland has assembled a blocking minority among the European Union members enabling them to stall Brussels' climate package, Polish officials said.

Poland and Greece reached an agreement late on Thursday, following a similar accord with Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, that more debate was needed on the EU's package of climate measures.

The global financial crisis is no reason to water down the European Union's flagship plan to fight climate change, the bloc's environment chief said on Wednesday.

Even before the current financial meltdown, many EU companies said the programme, involving cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, would hurt them by boosting costs.