The Polish city of Kraków has the world’s cleanest air today, according to global monitoring service IQ Air’s global ranking of cities.
Its air quality levels were near the best possible score of zero on the air quality index (AQI). Another Polish city, Wrocław, was also in the ranking’s top 10 throughout much of this morning.
Kraków is more often associated with toxic smog, especially during the winter heating season, and has in the past regularly topped IQ Air’s ranking. Earlier this month, it recorded the world’s second most polluted air, behind only Delhi.
Poland itself also has some of Europe’s worst air, with the pollution estimated to cause tens of thousands of premature deaths annually.
However, both local and national authorities around the country have taken steps in recent years to improve air quality, with Kraków seeing particular improvements.
The city has been a pioneer in efforts to tackle smog. In 2019, it became the first in Poland to ban the burning of wood and coal for heating – one of the primary causes of air pollution in Poland. Last year, it announced Poland’s first “clean transport zone”, from which older, more polluting cars will be banned.
An annual “smog ranking” has found that Poland’s air – which is among the most polluted in Europe – has improved.
The average concentration of harmful PM10 particles was within maximum safe limits in all monitored places for the first time since 2015 https://t.co/sm1eD4dbJW
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) November 3, 2023
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
