Poland Grapples With Its Coal Use as European Union Pushes Decarbonization

摘要

Environmental and economic issues in Poland this year could center around one word: coal. The government of Prime Minister Beata Szydlo is urgently seeking ways to boost the economy and ensure jobs for thousands of coal miners working at unprofitable mines despite the European Union's mandate to decarbonize Europe. And Poland's extensive use of coal despite EU pressure to cut emissions has prompted individual Poles to challenge smog in the cities. Their legal basis is legislation approved by Parliament in August 2015 under which local authorities will be able to ban the use of coal and certain other fuels in heat-generating installations and specify the areas covered by the ban. About 60 percent of private homes in Poland use coal. Only 5.4 percent of households use electricity for heating and 15 percent use natural gas. House heating by coal is blamed for the generation of 88.21 percent of dangerous particulate matter. The transportation sector generates 4.09 percent of particulate matter while industry contributes only 1.84 percent.