11 Sustainability And Air Quality

Agnieszka Bartocha

11.1 Introduction

The problem of poor air quality is complex because it involves atmospheric physical and chemical processes, multiple emission sources and is linked to other large global issues like energy and transportation. The understanding of the causes of poor air quality, their consequences and measures that should be taken to improve and maintain good air quality is one of the key challenges for sustainable development. The problem with air quality is that it is often not obviously visible (except the cases with very high concentrations) like other environmental concerns (e.g. solid waste or sewage), and this poses further challenges to combating air pollution.

Harmful impact both on people and ecosystems is one of the most important consequences of air pollution. Poor air quality causes human health problems associated with respiratory conditions (such as asthma) and exacerbated cardiovascular diseases and is also responsible for acidification and eutrophication effects in ecosystems. It was estimated that air pollution was responsible for over 400 000 premature deaths in 2010 making it the number one environmental cause of premature deaths in the European Union (EU) and ten times more than the toll of road traffic accidents (Amann et al., 2012). Sixty two percent of EU’s ecosystem area exceeds critical loads for eutrophication (Amann et al., 2012). According to the European Commission, the external costs of air pollution health impact range between €330-940 billion a year and direct economic losses like damage to crops and buildings are estimated at about €23 billion a year10. The problem of air quality is not only a concern in Europe. A report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Sigman et al., 2012) states that “without new policies, by 2050, air pollution is set to become the world’s top environmental cause of premature mortality” with projection of 3.6 million premature deaths from exposure to particulate matter a year globally in 2050. A recent report by Gurreiro et al. (2012) suggests that air pollution is responsible also for:

• –   Material losses including agricultural crops, buildings, cultural heritage due to soiling and exposure to acidifying pollutants and ground level ozone (O );
• –   Impacts of specific pollutants like heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants on ecosystems, due to their environmental toxicity and bioaccumulation;
• –   Contribution to climate change;
• –   Impact on atmospheric visibility.

In Europe air quality is one of the main threats to environmental and human health. Even though emissions of nitrogen dioxide (NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) have been decreasing regularly since the last few decades, the air quality standards especially for NO2 and PM are not met in many European countries. High pollution levels of these chemicals are observed especially in urban areas. In 2011, more than 30% of the European urban population was exposed to concentrations of PM10 (10 micrometers in diameter or smaller) in excess to daily limit and about 5 % of the EU urban population was exposed to concentrations of NO2 in excess to annual limits (Guerreiro et al., 2013). The figure below presents annual mean concentrations of NO2 and PM10 measured at European monitoring stations to demonstrate spatial distribution of the pollution in 2011.

This chapter presents general reflections on the air quality in the EU and their linkages with sustainability issues. It focuses on a case study relating to air quality in Poland and presents the measures implemented by authorities to tackle the specific problem of emissions sources from domestic heating. These efforts were considered a step towards sustainability and this chapter will look more closely into the sustainability indicators used to evaluate air quality. Poland is an interesting case study due to its problems with small individual combustion sources especially in connection with coal resources and coal-based economy. Emissions from domestic heating sources are also of concern in other transition countries or developing countries therefore issues discussed here have wider implications.

11.2 General Reflections On Air Quality And Sustainability In The EU

11.2.1 When Sustainability Meets Air Quality

Although sustainability is not often mentioned within the discussions on air quality management, many air quality aspects are strictly linked to sustainability, such as:

• a)   Harmful impacts on people and ecosystems;
• b)   Material losses due to pollution;
• c)   Connection to the climate change policy;
• d)   Long range pollution transport;
• e)   Control strategies including:
  • –   Emission reduction from different sources (industrial, transportation, energy sector, agriculture and other);
  • –   Links to energy policy;
  • –   Links to a transport system;
  • –   Measure selection and optimization and cost-benefit analysis (CBA);

Short-term and long-term harmful impacts on people and ecosystems are the most important consequences of poor air quality. Health effects of pollution can be expressed as:

• –   Years Of Life Lost (YOLLs) due to exposure to pollutant from anthropogenic sources (years);
• –   Loss of Life Expectancy (LLE) due to exposure (months)12;
• –   Premature deaths attributable to exposure (cases per year);
• –   Premature mortality attributable to exposure (cases per year)13.

Estimation of the costs resulting from the avoidance of health care and the lack of absence at work are also useful metrics. The way of expressing the health impact is important to achieve the best understanding of the problem and citizens’ acceptance for the measures implemented. The impact on ecosystems is estimated as an ecosystem’s area with excess of critical loads for eutrophication or acidification. Material losses due to pollution are expressed as costs and they include for instance: agricultural crops losses due to O3 exposure or building damages due to high level of acidifying pollutants and O3. Human population exposure to air pollution, calculated mainly using dispersion modelling tools is also one of the useful air quality indicators. All above mentioned metrics are linked to sustainability aspects and, in some circumstances, can be considered as sustainability indicators.

Another issue worth mentioning in regard to sustainability is better integration of air quality and climate change policies which has been investigated and considered recently. The problem is complex due to the synergies and antagonisms existing between air pollution and greenhouse gases (GHG). The impact of climate change on air quality is related to the changes of atmospheric chemistry and meteorological conditions (Fowler et al., 2013). For instance, the duration and frequency of stable meteorological conditions have a strong impact on the dispersion of the pollution. The other example is the influence of temperature increase on ozone formation in troposphere and on enhancement of the biogenic emission of ozone precursors (VOC). On the other hand, emissions of black carbon (light absorbing particles, part of the particulate matter), methane (GHG), sulphur dioxide and ozone have influence on both air quality and climate change (Fowler et al., 2013). Further research is necessary on the air quality and climate change synergies and antagonisms due to the complexity of the chemistry of atmosphere processes. There is large potential for policy integration. Many actions like direct emission reduction of pollutants like PM, VOC, methane, or energy efficiency measures and renewable energy implementation have a positive impact simultaneously on both the air quality and climate change mitigation. The adverse effect is also possible in some cases like biomass burning regarded as a renewable energy source and simultaneously causing the emission of PM and other pollutants.

Long-range pollution transport in the hemisphere of ozone, particulate matter, its precursors and other pollutants requires cooperation between countries especially those which are responsible for high level emissions. Local emissions can influence the air quality in different continents. The case of ozone in Europe shows the importance of the problem. Reduction of ozone precursors emission (about 30% for NO2 and VOC) in the last decades in Europe resulted in reduction of ozone episodes but the trend of annual ozone concentration (background) is increasing because of intercontinental flows (Jonson et al., 2006). The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Convention on Long-range Trans-boundary Air Pollution is a good example of international cooperation.

Emission reduction is the main measure of achieving good air quality and to decrease impacts on people and ecosystems. The new EU air quality policy (mentioned below) focuses on emission reductions to decrease the background concentration. Energy policy has large impact on the level of emissions and the structure of combustion sources and finally on the air quality including impacts on both background concentration and local high pollution episodes. Appropriate energy policy is crucial for air quality management. Transportation is the second most important emission source responsible for exceedances of NO2, PM10 and PM2.5 limit values in many European cities. Other sustainability measures for transportation include: intelligent transportation systems, Park&Ride, bicycle paths, car sharing systems, fees systems, low emission zones and development of public transportation.

Selecting and optimising air quality measures and indicators is a very important process enabling achieving improvements in three pillars of sustainability: social, environmental and economic. In other words, selecting right indicators may allow directing actions towards sustainable management of air quality. Selection of the measures depends on source apportionment analysis which indicates the sources responsible for poor air quality. Many issues have to be analyzed to choose the best package of actions including:

• –   emission reduction optimization - measures with the best emission reduction effect;
• –   costs of measures and cost-effectiveness analysis (often used in Polish Air Quality Action Plans - AQAPs);
• –   barrier analysis including socio-economic implications of adopting selected actions and indicators;
• –   implementation time;
• –   availability of the measures;
• –   law requirements and limitations;
• –   cost-benefit analysis.;

The cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a good tool for a measure selection and optimization. CBA methodology is used in the EU for revision of the air quality policy and to design the best policy option taking into account costs of policy implementation and benefits due to better air quality after implementation (for instance: Amman et al., 2013).

Air quality management is complex. The impacts of air quality range from local to global (hemispheric) and short-term and long-term influence on human health and ecosystems. Similarly to other chapters of this book, this complexity is directly linked to and reflected in sustainability: climate change, energy, transportation policy and socio-economic aspects.

11.2.2 Tools For Improving Air Quality In Europe

Air quality management in Europe has three main components: air quality measures, emission measures and supporting instruments (Fig. 2.).

Air quality and emission measures are the main direct instruments for improving air quality. Air quality measures focus on impact of air pollution on human health and ecosystems and on establishing air quality standards. The measures concern areas where air quality limits are exceeded (mainly urban areas in the case of PM10, PM2.5 and NO2) and regard measures at local, regional and national level (the type of the measures depends on the nature and source of pollution exceedances). The Directive 2008/50/EC on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe (CAFE Directive) – the main act in air quality management and Directive 2004/107/EC relating to arsenic, cadmium, mercury, nickel and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in ambient air define air quality limits or targets. The air quality standards are established for: PM10, PM2.5, NO2, NOx, SO2, benzene, ozone, heavy metals, benzo(a)pyrene and other pollutants. The CAFE Directive describes the basic principles of how air quality should be assessed and managed using the following key instruments:

• –   assessment and monitoring of air quality;
• –   air quality plans – prepared for zones (areas) where exceedances were observed; including identification of sources responsible for poor air quality and plan of actions for improving air quality (called also Air Quality Action Plans - AQAPs);
• –   short term action plans – in the case of exceedances of alarm thresholds;
• –   reporting, dissemination and public information.

The emission measures focus on controlling the emissions from different sectors (i.e. combustion, transport, chemistry - solvents and paints, waste incineration and others). They include:

• –   The national emission limits for Member States (imposed by National Emission Ceiling (NEC) Directive 2001/81/EC; new proposal is currently being prepared and consulted);
• –   Industrial emission control system: integrated pollution prevention and control, Best Available techniques (Reference Documents [BREFs], emission standards for Large Combustion Plants (LCP) and others; the new Directive 2010/75/EU on industrial emissions (IED) brings together Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC), LCP and other directives concerning industrial emission control);
• –   The EURO standards for vehicles;
• –   Limits concerning content of substances in the products (like content of the volatile organic compounds [VOC] in the paints - Paint Directive or content of the sulphur in the fuel - Sulphur Content of Liquid Fuels Directive).

Other instruments that support the air quality strategy are:

• –   Public consultation to ensure and to achieve citizens’ participation in environmental activities;
• –   Financial instruments like the “polluter pays” principle, environmental fees, taxes;
• –   Reporting and monitoring;
• –   Environmental information systems and appropriate tools like INSPIRE;
• –   The European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR).

In 2013 the new European air pollution policy proposal was adopted (A Clean Air Policy Package for Europe – CAPE). The main aim of the package is to tackle the problems of compliance with present air quality requirements and it regards mainly measures at national and local levels. It focuses on problems with emissions from transportation (problem of complying to the NOx EURO standard under real driving conditions), on adopting tools for national and local actions, especially concerning transportation and public information, and on ensuring financial support. A long-term objective of the CAPE is to deliver further reduction of air pollution concentration towards the level of the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines and reducing the burden of the pollution on ecosystems. It focuses on decreasing the emissions at the sources to reduce background concentration (in particular: national limits, emissions from domestic combustion sources, industrial emissions, emissions from non-road machinery sources, emissions from Medium Combustion Plants, ammonia emissions from agriculture, and emissions from shipping).

11.3 The Air Quality In Poland

11.3.1 What Is The Problem With Air Quality In Poland?

Let the story about air quality in Poland begin in a small touristic town located in the mountains in the south of Poland. Winter in the morning, people are getting up, preparing themselves for daily activities. Weather is nice but it is rather cold outside. No wind, the air is still and the sun is slowly rising from behind the mountains warming the air above the valley. In the bottom of the valley air is still cold, waiting for the sun. It is so cold that it is time to switch on the heating systems, especially for tourists sleeping in the guest houses around and it is also time to prepare food in regional restaurants and bars. Part of the town has got gas and geothermal heat distribution systems and the hotels, larger guest houses and municipal houses or buildings use them for heating purposes. But many individual houses and guest houses have their own boilers fed by coal or wood as this is much cheaper. After one or two hours the air quality begins to be more and more visible and cloudy air is not the fog… This situation is presented in Fig 3. The pictures illustrate the formation of smog due to emissions from the domestic combustion sources and weather conditions: low wind and temperature inversion (an increase in temperature with height and inversion layer formation which traps the air pollution near the surface) during one winter morning in 2013.

Dust pollution (PM10, PM2.5 and benzo(a)pyrene) is the main and most serious air quality problem in Poland. According to the official annual air quality assessment report (Mitosek et al., 2013) almost all zones14 (in 2011 - 38 from 46) are classified as a C15 class regarding measured exceedances of 24-hour PM10 concentration. The situation is even worse when looking at the target value for benzo(a)pyrene (which is a part of the dust particle) – 42 of the zones are classified as a C. The ozone target value was exceeded in 5 zones. High pollution of NO2 is observed in a few large cities, there are also some local exceedances of limits for other pollutants (arsenic, benzene) connected to industry emissions. In 2012 concentrations above annual SO2 limit value were measured in 3 zones in the south of Poland. Fig. 4 below presents the zone classification for PM10 (A), PM2.5 (C) and ozone (D). The (B) picture presents measurements of PM10 (90.4 percentile for 24-hour concentration in 2011) to compare the spatial distribution of concentration.

The situation of high PM pollution in Poland has not changed much since the year 2000 (Fig. 5). Differences in concentration between years are due to the weather conditions rather than changes in emissions. In particular unfavorable meteorological factors (low wind and thermal inversions) when pollutants dispersion is slow were observed in the years 2003 and 2006.

The percentage of urban population exposed to air pollutant concentrations above the PM10 air quality objectives (24-hour, 50 μg/m3) is estimated to be about 79-86% (2009-2011) (Air pollution fact sheet 2013 Poland, European Environment Agency, 2013)17. It means that every year about 80% of people living in the Polish towns/cities are exposed to the significant adverse impact of PM pollution.

The worst situation regarding PM pollution is observed in the south of Poland (Silesia and Malopolska Regions). According to The New York Times analysis, based on EEA data, the cities located in these regions (Krakow, Nowy Sacz, Katowice, Gliwice, Zabrze and Sosnowiec) are on the 10 top list of the most polluted cities in Europe (taking into account average number of days in 2011 when particulate concentrations exceeded the EU limit)18. In all the above mentioned cities the average number of days with exceedances of PM10 limit value is more than 120 days which means that citizens are inhaling much polluted air during more than one third of the year. The mixture of many anthropogenic factors like high population density, coal mines, location of heavy industry and power plants and transportation intensity result in high emissions from all sources. These sources include: industrial and energy sectors, domestic heating and small combustion and transportation in the regions. Additionally Silesia Region and Malopolska Region are characterized partly by difficult orographic and meteorological factors such as: hilly areas with valleys where low wind speed and thermal inversions are observed, as presented in Fig. 3.

11.3.2 Why Are There Problems With Air Quality In Poland?

The most important question is to find out the main sources of high level of pollution. One of the elements of the Air Quality Action Plan is the source apportionment analysis, whose main objective is to indicate the emission sources responsible for exceedances. The mean percentage of source apportionment based on analysis of all Polish AQAPs is presented in Fig. 6. According to the AQAPs analysis more than 60%19 of PM10 concentration is due to domestic heating and other small combustion sources.

The Zakopane Basin (Kotlina Zakopianska in Polish) described at the beginning of the section is a touristic mountain town inhabited by about 30 thousand citizens, without heavy industry. In 2011 there were 101 days measured with exceedances of PM10 daily limit value. Exceedances of target value for benzo(a)pyrene (annual concentration of 8,7 ng/m3 comparing to the target value - 1 ng/m3) and exceedances of annual concentration for PM2.5 (36 ug/m3 compared to 28 ug/m3 of limit value) were also observed (Pajak et al., 2012). In 2012 the results were similar. The Air Quality Action Plan prepared for Malopolska zones in 2012 indicates that more than 90% of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations was due to emissions from domestic heating (Lochno et al., 2012).

Transportation is often the second emission source responsible for poor air quality. In big cities its share is significant - according to the AQAP for Warsaw established by the regional authorities21, transportation is indicated as a main emission source responsible for high level of PM10 concentration.

Poland complies with the national emission limits imposed by the NEC Directive, nevertheless air quality trends have not significantly changed. A lot has been done, but the problem is very complex and integrated with energy policy, especially with fuel prices for individuals and with a fast growing transport sector.

11.3.3 Sustainability And The Problem Of Domestic Heating In Poland

Understanding the current energy policy, social situation, fuel resources available in Poland and its spatial distribution is necessary to tackle the air pollution problem in the country. Historical facts have also some impact on the whole issue. Energy and heat production is based on solid fuels (hard and brown coal). According to Energy Regulatory Office central heating production is based on more than 70% of solid fuel (coal) including large power plants and small units >5 MWt (Bunczyk, 2013). The central heating system delivers about 23% of required heat to citizens (up to 80%, on average 50% in the cities), 63% of heat demand is produced in small domestic stoves and boilers using solid fuels, mainly coal (author’s calculation based on statistical data from Central Statistical Office of Poland and ATMOTERM Corp. internal analyses). The location of coal resources and coal mine industry in Silesia Region caused industrial development and strong mining traditions and hence the common usage of coal for heating purposes in the south of Poland.

Explanation of some confusion with terminology is also necessary. “Low emission” term is used to define emission from domestic heating and small combustion sources in air quality management in Poland and at the same time is used for CO2 (GHG) emission sources by the energy or economy sector concerning climate change issues. In Europe the “low emission” is often used if emissions from transport are considered (e.g. Low Emission Zones). Therefore there are many misunderstandings between different sectors concerning the climate change and air quality management which makes the action implementation, policy integration or raising the air quality awareness more difficult. For example it is difficult for many people to distinguish different objectives of the Low Emission Reduction Program and Low Emission Economy Plans (in other words: Low-Carbon Plans) conducted by local authorities. In this chapter “low emission” term means emissions from domestic heating and small combustion.

Low Emission Reduction Program (LERP) is the third issue specific for Poland worth an explanation. LERPs were set up by local authorities and they enable to fund investment costs of changing domestic heating systems to limited emission ones such as gas, oil boilers, modern coal boilers, central heating or electrical systems. Some Programs include also the funding of insulation of buildings or solar systems. The Programs funding of replacing old coal heating system into new solid fuel boilers are specific for the south of Poland, where coal mining traditions are strong. The decision to fund the replacement to the new solid fuel boilers was based on socioeconomic analyses. The operational costs of using solid fuels (coal, wood) in domestic heating system are the lowest (see Fig. 7.). The modern solid fuel boilers ensure much lower emissions due to better combustion efficiency than old models. If an exhaust system (a chimney) is also renovated the emission reduction is even better. To ensure that emissions decrease the Programs are more complex and include the Operator responsible for the quality of solid fuel boilers and the quality of construction works. The retort boilers including the automation of the combustion process and quality of the fuels are often used in LERPs to achieve appropriate emission reduction effect. LERPs are the main measures used to tackle the problem of “low emission” in Poland. Air quality measures concerning the pollution from domestic heating sources are implemented at all levels: local, regional and national, however the intensity of the actions is diverse.

11.3.3.1 Local Level

Pollution from domestic heating sources was governed first by local authorities from the most polluted regions namely Malopolska and Silesia. In 1992 Low Emission Reduction Program in Krakow was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, in 2000 the Regional Environmental Fund supported the LERP in Tychy and since then a lot of Programs have been launched especially in Malopolska and Silesia Regions (about 50% of municipalities in Silesia Region have carried out already the LERP). The structure of the Programs differs and depends on the type of financial support. Because of the operational costs modern solid fuel boilers are the most popular option in the LERPs in the south of Poland. The simplest Programs enable the receipt of funds on the basis of documents giving evidence of changing the heating system (e.g. invoice of boiler purchase and/or construction works). Programs including supporting the change to modern limited emission solid fuel boilers are often more complicated. Local or Regional Environmental Funds are usually used.

11.3.3.2 Regional Level

LERPs are included in the air quality action plan (AQAP) prepared by regional authorities as one of the proposed measures. Regional Funds are used to support LERPs. In 2013 the regional authorities established, for the first time in Poland, Solid Fuel Prohibition Act for Krakow City. Regarding socio-economic consequences, the Act is a difficult decision and raising Krakow citizens’ awareness, as well as local authorities’ support has made this decision possible to be established. There are still a lot of problems ahead for implementation of the Act including the setting up of the financial support system of operational costs of heat production for citizens with low income.

11.3.3.3 National Level

In 2013 the new KAWKA Program (Low emission reduction program promoting energy efficiency growth and development of small-scale renewable energy) was launched by the National Environmental Fund. The Program allocates funds (about 100 MLN €) to the Regional Environmental Funds to support low emission reduction actions included in the AQAPs. Financial support is dedicated to the regions where exceedances of PM10 and B(a)P have been measured and depends on the population exposed to air pollution. The resulting indicators of the Program include emission reduction of PM10, PM2.5 and CO2.

The changes to modern solid fuel boilers assure the wider participation in the Program because of their low operational costs, tradition and easy access to the coal. Cases with more funds than citizens willing to change the heating system have happened. This happened especially when the financial support included only the replacement to more expensive types of heating (the limited emission modern coal fuel boilers were excluded from the financial support). This example shows that sustainable solutions towards better air quality must include also socio-economic aspects (such as costs and tradition) besides merely emission reduction. The solution is indeed not perfect and some problems are listed below (Table 1).

A large effort has been put into low emission reduction actions but the air quality has not shown improvement (Fig. 5.). The following list of problems at various levels explains why the air quality in Poland remains unimproved and shows the barriers to sustainability of air quality.

Air quality in Poland is becoming a priority yet further actions are needed to increase the efficiency of existing measures and adoption of new ones in order to achieve the improvement of air quality over the long term and including all aspects of sustainability: environmental, social and economic.

At the national level measures regarding the energy policy should be considered to decrease the costs of heat production from central systems. The cost-effectiveness calculation is a very important indicator to consider besides emission reduction effect, the socio-economic aspects in Low Emission Reduction Programs. The integration of air quality policy with climate change policy is needed for good management of synergies and antagonisms in both policies. Impact of the ETS system on the costs of heat production in power plants is a good example of strong interactions between policies. All measures concerning the energy efficiency and renewable energy sources have a positive effect on reducing the emissions from small combustion sources. The integration process has already started (e.g. KAWKA Program or AQAP for Malopolska) and it includes analysis of CO2 emissions. In that, both air quality and climate change indicators are used to monitor the Program’s results. Legal support is needed to enable efficient control and monitoring the quality of solid fuels used by individuals and to establish emission standards for domestic boilers. Control of emission levels from chimneys can be regarded as a very important indicator for achieving and sustaining the real improvement of air quality at local level.

Another very important measure is raising air quality awareness and enhancing citizens’ participation in the air quality policy. Knowledge dissemination, education campaigns and citizen science actions should be carried out at national, regional and local levels. CBA analyses and citizens science can be very useful tools to raise citizens’ awareness.

Improvement of LERP management is needed at local level including optimization of actions focusing not only on emission reduction but also on air quality. Project long-term objectives should include decrease of air pollution concentration and the project baseline concentration should be estimated (or measured). The PM10/PM2.5 concentration change or population exposure to these pollutants can be used to monitor the project’s long-term results concerning the health effect of the air quality. The reduction of pollution concentration monitoring has advantages such as the fact that it indicates the final expected project result and can be based on a measurement instead of theoretical data (such as emission calculations). On the other hand, these measurements are still very expensive and the concentration level is influenced by weather conditions. Hence long-term measurements are needed for trend identification, of utmost importance for observing sustained effect.

Table 1: Problems and barriers of air quality management at local, regional and national levels.

Local	Regional	National
–   The level of the emission reduction due to the implemented LERPs is still insufficient in the municipalities to achieve air quality standards –   Lack of monitoring of change of individual heating systems not taking part in the LERP from gas/oils or central heating systems to solid fuel boilers at the same time. Therefore there is no information about overall emission changes in the municipality. The trends for using the solid fuel boilers intensify when the prices for gas or central heating systems are increasing or during economic crisis –   Insufficient emission reduction in modern coal low-emission boilers due to using poor quality solid fuel and inappropriate operation of the boiler leading to ineffective combustion process –   Using emission reduction indicators – there is need for better indicators for assessing and monitoring the LERPs’ results	–   Cooperation and participation of local authorities and stakeholders during AQAP preparation by regional authorities	–   High operational costs of other fuels and central heating. The poor quality coal is much cheaper then gas and oil, it is also cheaper than the central heating system (Fig. 7.). Poorer citizens use also waste as fuel (this is forbidden but controlling system is insufficient) –   Insufficient central financial support for the regions (before KAWKA Program) –   Lack of a control and monitoring system of the solid fuels’ quality used by individuals, lack of emission standards for domestic boilers and other small combustion sources –   Lack of integration between energy policy, climate change policy and air quality policy Confusion with “low emission” term is the best example. Some level of integration can be obtained using integrated project result indicators like in KAWKA Project: emission of PM pollutants and CO2
Still low public awareness of air quality impact on human health and ecosystems and real costs of this impact

Integration with climate change measures like insulation of the houses and implementation of individual renewable energy sources to decrease the heat demand will lead to better air quality effects in LERPs. The integrated projects therefore should be preferred in the process of funding attribution. Adverse effects of changing domestic heat systems to cheaper but more polluting ones can be better governed by introducing local taxation or rules in local developments plans with a good control and monitoring system. Many municipalities in Poland have already introduced a range of these improvements and the best practices should be disseminated.

11.4 Conclusions

Air quality management is strongly linked to sustainability due to its complexity, short and long-term harmful impact of pollution on humans and ecosystems and a global range of the impact.

Although much effort has been put into emission reduction, the air quality has not changed much in Poland. Implementation of the following further measures and actions is recommended:

• 1.   Decrease of the costs of heat production from central systems by integrating energy policy and air quality policy at the national level.
• 2.   Integration of air quality and climate change policy for a better management of synergies and antagonisms in both policies.
• 3.   Legal support to enable efficient control and monitoring of the quality of solid fuels used by individuals and to establish emission standards for domestic boilers.
• 4.   Raising air quality awareness and enhancing citizens’ participation in the air quality policy. Knowledge dissemination, education campaigns and citizen science actions at national, regional and local level are necessary.
• 5.   Improvement of LERP management including optimization of actions focusing not only on emission reduction but also on air quality.
• 6.   Including in LERP decrease of air pollution concentration objective and the project baseline concentration.
• 7.   Adverse effect of changing the domestic heat systems to cheaper but with high-emission ones can be governed by introducing local taxation or rules in local development plans and good control and monitoring systems.
• 8.   Integrating energy efficiency and renewable energy sources measures in LERPs to achieve better results in air quality.
• 9.   Dissemination of best practices at local, regional and national levels.

The above-mentioned recommendations should be supported by implementation of relevant indicators. Proposition of such indicators is listed in the Table 2.

First two indicators (concentration or population exposure change) focus on air quality trends. They are long-term output indicators. They suppose to monitor if emission reduction plan (i.e. LERPs) result in improvement of air quality. The concentration indicator can be measured or modeled, population exposure is calculated using modeling. The measures indicate the main objective of emission reduction projects and help in better understanding of the project.

Climate change indicators (CO2 reduction, energy demand in buildings, renewable energy share) estimate the broader positive impact of the air quality/pollution projects (LERPs). The actions concerning also climate change issues decrease the operational costs of heating systems and help to achieve more sustainable effects in air quality projects (stop adverse trends in changes of heating systems caused by high operational costs).

Indicators related to the costs and benefits analyses are very important for monitoring of the cost-effectiveness of measures (what type of heating system replacement would be the most effective). They are also useful in consultation process to illustrate citizens the benefits of air quality improvements and for monitoring the level of benefits achieved after project implementation.

“Low emission” balance measure estimates the main projects’ result - overall emission changes due to the LERP and replacements of individual heating systems not taking part in the LERP at the same time in the municipality. The measure has an impact on other indicators - good monitoring of emission changes is the basis for calculation of many of the proposed indicators.

The methodology of the indicators can be different from the proposed according to the data availability or other specific local conditions (especially for cost/benefits indicator, health impact indicator or operational costs calculation for which there are many various methods). It is important to remember the main objectives of the indicator when the methodology is being chosen.

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Fowler D., Brunekreef B., Fuzzi S., et al. (2013). Research findings in support of the EU- Air Quality Review, EU, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union

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10  http://ec.europa.eu/environment/air/index_en.htm, EC

11  http://acm.eionet.europa.eu/databases/airbase/eoi_maps/eoi2012/index_html - 7.05.2014, European Topic Centre on Air Pollution and Climate Change Mitigation (EIONET), EEA.

12  LLE can be used for spatial analysis, when YOLLs is useful for estimation of at aggregated level (for instance national level)

13  Premature deaths can be define as a number of deaths in the given year among persons age between 0 and the year of average life expectancy and dividing by the estimated population for all age groups in the same year. Mortality is the risk of dying in a given year, measured by the death rate — the number of deaths occurring per 100,000 people in a population (http://www.societyhealth.vcu.edu/Page.aspx?nav=64&scope=0).

14  Zone – part of the territory of a Member State, as delimited by that Member State for the purposes of air quality assessment and management – CAFE Directive (in Poland regional districts or cities).

15  C class means that assessment (e.g. measurements) showed exceedances of limit value or target value in the area of the zone during the year and the air quality action plan is required for the zone.

16  State Environmental Monitoring – Environmental Protection Inspection

17  http://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/air/air-pollution-country-fact-sheets, 7.05.2014

18 (http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2013/10/15/business/international/europe-air-quality.html?ref=international&_r=0, 7.05.2014)

19  Excluding the regional background

20  Assessment of the Thematic Strategy on Air Pollution and CAFE Directive objectives realization with special regard to air quality standards for particulate matter PM2.5

21  http://www.bip.mazovia.pl/sejmik/uchwaly-sejmiku/uchwala,2602,18613.html 7.05.2014

22 (Program ochrony powietrza dla stref gliwicko-mikołowskiej, i częstochowsko-lublinieckiej województwa śląskiego, w których stwierdzone zostały ponadnormatywne poziomy substancji w powietrzu, Katowice, 2011)23.

23  Air Quality Action Plan for Gliwice-Mikolow and Czestochowa-Lubliniec Zones in Silesia Region where air quality stadards exceedances were observed.