The World Bank will lend Poland a further €250 million (1.1 billion zloty) to finance the government’s “Clean Air” programme, which aims to tackle the country’s poor air quality by providing subsidies for households to upgrade to cleaner heating systems and improve insulation.
“We have signed an agreement with the World Bank for €250 million to finance the Clean Air Programme,” announced finance minister Andrzej Domański after participating in the spring meeting of governors of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Domański revealed he had also discussed the challenges facing the global economy, including growing inequality, with World Bank President Ajay Banga.
Podpisaliśmy umowę z Bankiem Światowym na 250 milionów euro na sfinansowanie programu Czyste Powietrze. Z prezesem @WorldBank Ajay’em Bangą rozmawialiśmy też o wyzwaniach stojących przed globalną gospodarką i rosnących nierównościach na świecie. pic.twitter.com/L3cHRTFPI2
— Andrzej Domański (@Domanski_Andrz) April 19, 2024
Previously, in 2021, the World Bank lent Poland the same amount, €250 million, towards the “Clean Air” scheme, which was first launched in 2018 by the former Law and Justice (PiS) government.
With a budget of budget of 103 billion zloty (€22.5 billion) for the period 2018-2029, the programme is supposed to be the largest of its kind in Europe. The majority of its financing comes from a combination of the national budget and EU funds.
It was introduced in response to Poland having some of the continent’s worst air pollution, which causes tens of thousands of premature deaths annually. The burning of coal, which is far more common in Poland than in other European countries, is seen as the primary cause.
Kraków in Poland had the second-worst air pollution in the world at one point yesterday, behind only Delhi in India.
Local authorities issued warnings advising residents to limit outdoor physical activity and the amount of air they let into their homes https://t.co/AOD0tPoWrL
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 7, 2023
The programme allows homeowners to receive subsidies to, for example, replace old coal-fired heaters with cleaner alternatives. It has been gradually expanded over the years to offer larger grants for a wider range of products, such as heat pumps.
By the middle of last year, the programme had received 680,000 applications for a total of 17 billion zloty (€3.93 billion) of funding.
Earlier this month, the climate ministry, which oversees the scheme, announced that the number of applications has since rise to 832,000, of which 690,000 had received approval.
The Polish government is offering increased subsidies of up to 69,000 zloty (€15,000) for households to modernise heating systems in the latest edition of its programme to tackle what is some of Europe's worst air pollution https://t.co/IWYo0S6isG
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) January 27, 2022
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Main image credit: Greenpeace Polska / flickr.com (under CC BY-ND 2.0 DEED)
Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.
