Polish environment minister Marcin Korolec has lost his place in a parliamentary reshuffle whilst chairing ongoing UN climate talks in Warsaw. The announcement yesterday that Korolec would lose his place in favour of pro-fracking minister Maciej Grabowski sparked an angry response from environmentalists, who accused the government of paying lip service to the climate debate.   

Korlec's sacking, in the midst of the two-week COP19 climate change conference, was described as "nuts" by a Greenpeace spokesperson in Poland. The former minister will chair the conference until its conclusion tomorrow, but will lose his ministerial position to Maciej Grabowski, who highlighted the development of shale gas as his priority in his short acceptance speech.

Delegates at the conference are aiming to secure a deal on commitments to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions by 2015. Representatives from almost 200 countries are present at the talks in the Polish capital.

Maciej Muskat, Director of Greenpeace Poland commented, "This is nuts. Changing the Minister leading the climate negotiations after a race to the bottom by parties of the convention shows Prime Minister Tusk is not sincere about the need for an ambitious climate deal. Furthermore, justifying the change of the Minister by the need to push the exploitation of another fossil fuel in Poland is beyond words, especially in the light of the majority of Poles wanting to see increased investment in renewables – not fossil fuels."

Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters assembled at a press conference on Wednesday that the replacement was aimed at accelerating shale gas operations in the country. Poland's government has been amongst the more reluctant EU states to commit to greenhouse gas reduction targets, though the environment ministry under Korolec had been criticised for delays to new shale gas fracking legislation. The slowdown had deterred some major industrial players including Exxon Mobil.

As well as environmentalists, the reshuffle, attracted the ire of delegates at the UN conference who said it sent a signal that the Polish government is not interested in supporting action to combat further global warming. Korolec will remain Poland's envoy to UN climate negotiations; Poland will hold presidency over the talks until December 2014.