Poland sold some of its surplus of United Nations'-backed emission rights to two carbon funds managed by the World Bank for a total of 21 million euros ($26.68 million), its Environment Ministry and the bank said in a joint statement on Monday. The so-called Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) - allocated under the UN's climate change pact, the Kyoto Protocol - were bought by the Spanish Carbon Fund and the Carbon Fund for Europe. The amount of AAUs sold was not revealed.
Poland saw much of its heavily-polluting industry shut down after the fall of communism in 1989, leaving the nation with some 500 million tonnes of emissions rights before selling some to Japan, Spain and Ireland over the past three years. AAU buyers tend to be governments that struggle to meet Kyoto targets as well as Japanese companies facing domestic carbon caps. Poland has sold AAUs for around 190 million euros, including the carbon credits in the deal with the World Bank. Proceeds from the sale will be used to modernise public buildings such as schools and hospitals.