Poland was set to benefit from a new compromise plan on climate change, AFP learned late Wednesday, hours before EU leaders were set to begin two days of talks on a major package.

Heavily dependent on coal-fired power stations, Poland was due to be offered free CO2 emissions rights up to 2019.

One of the most controversial aspects of the current climate change/energy package is the emissions trading system, whereby polluters can buy and sell their polluting rights.

Under the scheme, industry will have to buy these rights from 2013 rather than receiving them for free as they do at present.

The fresh proposals suggested a new mechanism for sharing out CO2 quotas, with the EU's new member states, mostly ex-communist eastern European countries heavily reliant on highly-polluting coal, getting a special allocation of 12 percent against the previous 10 percent.

The meeting Thursday seeks to forge agreement without sacrificing key goals in a bid to satisfy demands from Germany and elsewhere.

The EU's climate-energy package, the so-called "20-20-20" deal, seeks to decrease greenhouse gas emission by 20 percent by 2020, make 20 percent energy savings and bring renewable energy sources up to 20 percent of total energy use.