Energy Use, Air Pollution, and Environmental Policy in Krakow

Abstract

This paper examines the impacts of alternative policy instruments on certain aspects of local air pollution in the Krakow region of Poland, in terms of sulfur dioxide and particulate emissions, energy use, the ressource cost of pollutioncontrol, and governemnet revenues. Pollution by oxides on nitrogen, which is mainly caused by the transport sector, has not been included in this study. The report concludes that although economic restructuring alone can be expected to improve air quality, at least for a while, strictly enforced command and control should lead to further improvements; that clear cost savings can be acheived trough incentive based instruments; that a tax on a single fuel, such as coal, is not sufficientlybroadly based to be an effective policy instrumentfor pollution control.