The United Nations' talks on global climate are being held in Poland, a country receiving increasing criticism for their reliance on coal and how it takes priority in their economy over climate change, BBC News reported.

Despite opposition from multiple environmental groups, Poland said coal will continue to be part of their economy and a source of energy for decades to come. The environmental groups are displeased because they believe the country is more dedicated to coal than to managing global climate change.

Polish officials said they are committed to developing cleaner sources of energies, but U.N. chief climate negotiator Christiana Figueres will reportedly address the Coal and Climate Summit and call for huge changes.

Her scheduled address has been met with criticism from environmental groups, such as the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in South Africa. The group is a global climate change advocate and said the upcoming summit meeting is a "provocative act."

"For the coal industry to come to Warsaw at a time when we are dealing with these serious issues and to say they have a future and try to pretend they can make a contribution, is a bit provocative," WWF's head of climate delegations Tasneem Essop told BBC News.

The World Coal Association (WCA) suggested it may not be so easy to reform the use of coal. The group pointed out that 41 percent of the world's electricity relies on coal and will still account for 25 percent 20 years from now.

Essop does not believe coal can be made into a clean energy.

"This whole concept of clean coal is a myth and it is being presented by the industry," she said.

The concept is based on what is known as "clean coal technology" that is capable of subtracting carbon dioxide from coal.

"We do recognize that for developing countries that giving up coal is going to be a challenge and we're not suggesting that tomorrow they stop," Essop said. "What we are saying is that we need to recognize that there is a point at which we cannot continue using coal in our energy mix and we have a just transition into renewables."

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in an address in Sept. that coal is and will be vital to the country's economy.

"The future of Polish energy is in brown and black coal, as well as shale gas," he said at the time. "Some wanted coal to be dispensed with, but energy independence requires not only the diversification of energy resources, but also the maximum use of one's own resources."