In 2016 alone, smog killed 19,000. Poles
According to the report, commissioned by the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology, in 2016 alone, polluted air from so-called “low-emission” fuels caused the deaths of 19,000 people. low emissions shortened the lives of 19,000. Poles by a total of 440,000. years.
Report „External health costs of air pollution emissions from the residential and municipal sectors” published on the MPiT website is probą estimate the social and economic cost ofoin heating the houseoin poor-quality fuels – ministry officials point out.
– For a long time, the government has indicated that the mainoThe main reason for the occurrence of smog in Poland is the so called “smog”. low emissions, i.e., pollution from households thatore heated by burning low-quality fuels or even garbage. The report shows that such home heating is a huge threat to the health of its owners, their loved ones and the entire environment. This threat can be described zaron in the form of an alarming number of lost Poleoin years of life, as well as the huge cost ofoin the incurred m.in. by the state budget– said the head of the ministry Jadwiga Emilewicz.
The MPiT minister pointed out during the presentation of the report that the study was prepared to find out, „How much the disastrous air quality is costing us”. As she added, it is not only about internal costs, i.e. the price of fuel, but also external costs, i.e. what we all pay for the reduction in quality of life, or health costs. – This type of estimation has never been done – admitted.
– If I have a house and fuel it with some kind of fuel, my internal cost is the price of that fuel. External costs, on the other hand, are all the effects of using a given fuel. If, for example. burn low-quality coal, whichory is cheap, moj internal cost is low. But already external – huge. This is because you have to include all the money thatore I spend on combating disease resulting from air pollution from my farm. This is about the cost of lekow or the value of the money thatore lost during sick leave – Emilewicz explained.
And these costs were valued at 30 billion in the reportoin euros, specifically between 12.8 billion euros and 30 billion euros. On a per capita basis, this adds up to between 300 and 800 euros.
The author of the report is Lukasz Adamkiewicz, a member of the supervisory board of the #13 Foundation, whichohe goal is to promote systemic improvements in environmental quality. According to its study, in 2016 alone, nearly 15 thousand died prematurely in cities due to air pollution produced by low emissions. osob. Another 4 thousand. lost their lives prematurely in rural areas. This means that in just one year, nearly 19,000 have died prematurely. Poleow.
As one of the reviewers emphasizedoin the report, prof. Michal Krzyzanowski, the certainty of the order of magnitude obtained is very high. He noted at the same time that someore costs, whichorities known to exist were omitted from these estimates, such as. additional costs, ktore borne by the health service because it is too difficult to estimate correctly.
