Poland’s air pollution worst in Europe: auditors

In a Friday interview given to journalists ahead of a debate accompanying the COP24 climate summit in the southern city of Katowice, Kwiatkowski said air pollution was Poland’s greatest civilisation challenge and fighting smog must be the country’s “absolute priority.”

Citing the central audit office’s new report, Kwiatkowski said Poland had the highest levels of benzopyrene and particulate matter in the continent.

He said: “The fact that out of 50 most polluted cities in Europe 36 are located in Poland best represents the problem at hand.”

Kwiatkowski listed poor coordination and insufficient funding as the biggest hurdles to tackling smog in Poland.

Polish government's efforts to fight smog

Environment ministry spokesperson Aleksander Brzózka told PAP that the Polish government does not play down the issue, which is why it launched its Clean Air programme in September. The initiative covers subsidies and loans for the thermal insulation of households and the upgrade of heating installations.

Some PLN 103 billion (EUR 24.04 bn, USD 27.33 bn) is to be spent on curbing air pollution under the initiative over the next 12 years.

In a speech delivered in the southern city of Racibórz on Friday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said: “Climate protection is the concern of every household, every farm.”

He added: “May every single citizen think again before they heat their homes with trash or plastic,” PAP reported.

(aba)

Source: PAP