The European Commission said on Thursday it had sent a letter to Poland warning of legal action for failing to comply with a 2018 air quality decision, notably in transport and the replacement of what it said were outdated solid fuel boilers used for heating households.
The European Union's top court on February 22, 2018 said Poland had failed to uphold air quality standards, part of a wider battle by the EU to reduce deaths from airborne pollution which it estimates kills 400,000 people every year.
The European Commission had taken Poland to court over its slowness to address the issue of poor air quality caused by extensive coal-burning in homes which makes Poland's air the most polluted in Europe.
Siding with the Commission, the European Court of Justice said the limits in place to regulate the amount of pollutants in the air had "been persistently exceeded." Specifically, Poland's air contained too much PM10, particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers, which can cause health damage if breathed in.
A 2016 WHO report found that 33 of the 50 most-polluted places in the European Union were in Poland, mostly in the country's south. Katowice, which lies at the heart of Poland's coal country in the southern Silesia region, is one of them.
Poland remains one of the countries most reliant on coal for generating electricity. Coal currently produces around 80 percent of the country's energy, though the Polish government wants this figure to decrease to 50 percent by 2050.
Autor: gf / Źródło: TVN24 News in English, PAP, Reuters
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