Addressing climate change. Kraków, Poland

 Kraków, the historic capital of Poland and its second biggest city, was known to be one of the cities with the worst air quality in Europe. As most energy in Poland is still derived from coal, Kraków and other cities suffered a high levels of air pollution with its health consequences.

In 2019 as first and still the only Polish city, Kraków created the Clean Air Programme, banning burning of coal and wood in homes. The restriction turned out to be a key element in the fight to improve the air quality in Kraków.  

This was the first major step towards addressing climate change and achieving its zero net target. The city is aiming to reduce most emissions by 2030 and become climate-neutral by 2050 at the latest.

To achieve this Kraków:

• Focuses on mobility and supports a city-wide shift to public transport, walking and cycling (together with banning old cars from entering the city from 2024).
• Changing heating systems in all public buildings to more environmentally friendly.
• Influencing central government regulations to introduce faster changes. (without a change to government legislations city can only tackle 25% of its emission reduction by 2030).
• Close cooperation with surrounding municipalities to prevent inflow of air pollution from outside the city.
• Introducing financial incentives to citizens who change their home heating systems into renewable sources.
• Use of recycled rainwater to wash public transportation and streets in the city
• Public information campaign to encourage people to use tap water for drinking and reduce the amount of plastic consumption.
• Increase of green areas in the city and protection/restoration of existing ones with a focus on health and community benefits
• Launch of Kraków Climate Panel which aims to engage citizen in climate actions by reducing energy consumption and use of renewable resources.
• Environmental education and campaign “Kraków in a good climate” (social media channels and campaigns, education worships for primary schools, tree planting by schools, screening of best environmental movies for young audience).