Activists ring alarm bells about halt in Poland's air pollution progress

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland is one of Europe’s most polluted countries, and a flagship national program to clean the air and curb household heating demand is losing momentum — threatening both public health and the country’s energy security as global conflicts, including the Iran war, destabilize fuel supplies.

European Union air quality standards were routinely breached in parts of Poland until the government launched a sweeping anti‑smog initiative in 2018. The program, known as “Clean Air,” offers grants to households and businesses to replace coal‑fired boilers, improve thermal insulation and cut domestic energy consumption. Coal‑based home heating is the largest source of air pollution in the country and the aim is to replace it with systems based on gas, wood pellets or electricity.

Environmentalists are now raising alarm bells that the program is puttering out, which not only slows down progress with smog but also keeps the country more dependent on volatile energy imports at a time of growing geopolitical risk.

About a million households in the country of nearly 38 million people have used the “Clean Air” program since 2018, according to Krzysztof Bolesta, Secretary of State at the Polish Ministry of Climate and Environment. Two and a half million coal-based heaters are still to be modernized.

Andrzej Guła, from NGO Polish Smog Alert, said Krakow went from 150 days of heavy smog per year to 30, exemplifying the impact of the program. “It’s still 30 days too much, but there is progress,” Gula said.

In 2024, at the peak of the scheme, more than a quarter million requests for financing were filed, but applications have rapidly decreased since.

At the end of that year, the government initiated a reform of the program to prevent misuse of funds and temporarily paused approving applications. Activists argue that the sudden interruption of the program caused a loss of trust among citizens.

During a press conference in Warsaw on March 31, environmentalists from Polish Smog Alert showed data which indicated the number of applications was five times lower in 2025 compared with the peak of the program. The slump was continuing into 2026.

The environmentalists said they worried progress on air pollution and reducing domestic energy consumption in Poland had reached a plateau.

Bolesta, representing the government, said the reform was needed to ensure only worthy projects receive financing and avoid wasting public funds.

“Poland has a unique situation in the European Union, as only Poland has such a high share of coal in individual heating,” Bolesta explains, stressing the government’s commitment to improving air quality. “However, I have no illusions: this will be very difficult and we will continue to lag behind other countries in the EU.”

But Piotr Siergiej, another environmentalist from the Polish Smog Alert, said the energy crisis caused by the Iran war should serve as a wake-up call to the Polish government about the urgency of fixing this program.

Lowering energy consumption builds energy security in Poland, Siergiej argued, because it reduces dependency on imported gas, coal and pellets (a more eco-friendly solid fuel produced from compressed wood waste).

“This program can become an epochal chance to energetically transform our buildings and homes, to make us more independent from those energy crises which we are facing now and whose future we can’t predict,” he said.