The European Commission took Poland to court in 2015, saying the country had failed to rein in air pollution. The court also noted that Poland's plans to meet EU air quality standards were not effective enough.
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The European Court of Justice on Thursday found Poland guilty of violating air quality norms and warned of financial penalties if Poland did not comply swiftly.
The case was brought against Poland in December 2015 by the European Commission, which found that the daily limit for harmful air pollutants had been regularly breached in most parts of the country between 2007 and 2015.
Under a 2008 EU rule, member states are obliged to limit air pollution to protect human health. More than 400,000 people die prematurely across the bloc every year due to poor air quality, according to recent estimates.
Europe's battle against deadly air pollution
European cities are choking on fumes. How can they clean up their act?
Image: picture alliance/empics/C. Radburn
Cutting back on diesel
Germany has launched a scheme to retrofit its diesel public buses with exhaust-scrubbing systems, and introduce charging points to encourage drivers to switch to e-cars. Still, environmentalists say that's not enough. They want all diesel vehicles — including private cars — retrofitted, or taken off the road.
Image: Reuters/F. Bensch
Taking cars off streets
Milan, one of Italy's most polluted cities, has banned cars from its downtown area during certain hours. Other cities in Italy and abroad have experimented with similar schemes, for example permitting only cars with odd or even license plates on the road at given times in order to limit the amount of traffic.
Image: picture alliance/NurPhoto/F. Di Nucci
Free public transport
The Macedonian capital of Skopje is battling with pollution levels up to 15 higher than permitted by the EU — though it's not yet a member state, so isn't facing fines. Macedonia's smog problem is largely down to burning coal and emissions from aging, inefficient industry and vehicles. To get people to leave their dirty old cars at home, the government has introduced free public transport.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/G. Licovski
Sounding the alarm
One street in London exceeded the EU's annual nitrogen dioxide limit on January 30 — less than a month into 2018. Actually, this is an improvement — it's the first time in a decade the British capital has kept within the annual limit for more than six days. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has announced he wants to alert the city's schools on days when pollution is particularly bad.
Image: picture alliance/empics/C. Radburn
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Ineffective plan
The court also found Poland's plans to curb air pollution ineffective, saying the existing plans would not bring air quality in line with EU standards between 2020 and 2024.