Greece to adopt national policy on climate change, PM tells UN

Greece intends to convene a high-level conference in Athens next year on the protection of cultural and natural heritage from climate change, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told the United Nations Climate Change Summit in New York on Monday.

Mitsotakis said that the repercussions of climate change are already visible and underlined that by the end of 2019 the Greek government will adopt a new national policy for energy and the climate that will include a ban on single-use plastic starting in 2021, the shutdown of lignite-fired power plants by 2028 and the increase in the share of renewable resources to 35 percent by 2030.

Referring to the devastating fire in Mati, eastern Attica, that cost 102 lives last year, the Greek premier said that "the destruction shook the Greek public deeply."

Speaking of the extreme conditions that contributed to the...