At least 81 lawsuits have been filed against provincial environmental funds regarding Poland’s “Clean Air” program, as reported by “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”. The legal disputes primarily concern the accounting of investments made under previous program rules and the application of new cost limits.
The “Clean Air” program has become the center of legal conflicts between contractors and provincial environmental funds (WFOŚiGW). According to “Dziennik Gazeta Prawna”, these funds have been sued at least 81 times concerning the program.
The highest number of lawsuits has been filed against the fund in Kielce, with 17 cases. In Kraków, Warsaw, and Lublin, 14 lawsuits were submitted against each fund. Conversely, the fewest cases were observed in Zielona Góra and Łódź.
Dispute Over Accounting and Cost Limits
As reported by “DGP”, issues intensified during inspections conducted after the halt in application submissions in November 2024. The primary concerns involve the funds disputing payment requests and investment costs based on contracts made prior to the program’s reform.
Sylwester Rawski, president of Pionier Energia, highlights discrepancies in the accounting rules. He argues that one of the main issues is the application of new rules to previously established contracts.
— The biggest problem is that agreements made in 2023 and 2024 are being settled according to rules introduced only after the program’s reform in 2025. The funds challenge the costs of investments based on new maximum rate tables, even though such limits were not in effect at the time the contracts were signed, Rawski explained, as quoted by “DGP”.
Thus, the dispute pertains not only to the validity of individual expenses but also to which rules should apply to investments made under earlier agreements.
Over 37,000 Program Inspections Conducted
The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management informed the newspaper that over 37,000 inspections have been conducted under the “Clean Air” program since mid-2024, with around 12 percent resulting in financial consequences.
According to “DGP”, changes that were intended to increase the risk of abuses included the introduction of prefinancing when using a proxy in 2022 and the removal of maximum cost limits for individual works.
