Air Pollution in Poland: A 2022 Narrative Review with Focus on Respiratory Diseases

According to the World Bank Group, 36 of the 50 most polluted cities in the European Union are in Poland. Thus, ambient air pollution and its detrimental health effects are a matter of immense importance in Poland. This narrative review aims to analyse current findings on air pollution and health in Poland, with a focus on respiratory diseases, including COVID-19, as well as the Poles’ awareness of air pollution. PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar databases were searched. In total, results from 71 research papers were summarized qualitatively. In Poland, increased air pollution levels are linked to increased general and respiratory disease mortality rates, higher prevalence of respiratory diseases, including asthma, lung cancer and COVID-19 infections, reduced forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) and forced vital capacity (FVC). The proximity of high traffic areas exacerbates respiratory health problems. People living in more polluted regions (south of Poland) and in the winter season have a higher level of air pollution awareness. There is an urgent need to reduce air pollution levels and increase public awareness of this threat. A larger number of multi-city studies are needed in Poland to consistently track the burden of diseases attributable to air pollution.

Nexus Between Foreign Direct Investment Inflow, Renewable Energy Consumption, Ambient Air Pollution, and Human Mortality: A Public Health Perspective From Non-linear ARDL Approach

A huge foreign direct investment (FDI) inflow has been witnessed in China, though on the one hand, it brings a significant contribution to economic growth. On the other hand, it adversely affects the ambient air pollution that may affect human mortality in the country. Renewable energy (RE) usage meets the country's energy needs with no adverse effect on the environment. Therefore, this study is trying to empirically analyze the effect of FDI inflow on human morality and RE consumption in China. We used time-series data for 1998–2020 and applied a non-linear ARDL approach for the estimations. The empirical outcomes suggest that FDI inflow positively affects mortality and RE. There is also unidirectional causality running from RE and pollution to mortality. In addition, the relationship among the variable verifies the existence of a non-linear relationship. The government needs policy guidelines to further boost FDI inflow due to its positive aspects. However, to reduce the negative effect on the environment and human morality, the extensive usage of RE should be adopted. Indeed, proper legislation for foreign firms might be a good step toward quality environmental and longevity of human health in society.

Potential for future reductions of global GHG and air pollutants from circular waste management systems

The rapidly rising generation of municipal solid waste jeopardizes the environment and contributes to climate heating. Based on the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways, we here develop a global systematic approach for evaluating the potentials to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants from the implementation of circular municipal waste management systems. We contrast two sets of global scenarios until 2050, namely baseline and mitigation scenarios, and show that mitigation strategies in the sustainability-oriented scenario yields earlier, and major, co-benefits compared to scenarios in which inequalities are reduced but that are focused solely on technical solutions. The sustainability-oriented scenario leaves 386 Tg CO2eq/yr of GHG (CH4 and CO2) to be released while air pollutants from open burning can be eliminated, indicating that this source of ambient air pollution can be entirely eradicated before 2050.

Evaluating the Utility of High-Resolution Spatiotemporal Air Pollution Data in Estimating Local PM2.5 Exposures in California from 2015–2018

Air quality management is increasingly focused not only on across-the-board reductions in ambient pollution concentrations but also on identifying and remediating elevated exposures that often occur in traditionally disadvantaged communities. Remote sensing of ambient air pollution using data derived from satellites has the potential to better inform management decisions that address environmental disparities by providing increased spatial coverage, at high-spatial resolutions, compared to air pollution exposure estimates based on ground-based monitors alone. Daily PM2.5 estimates for 2015–2018 were estimated at a 1 km2 resolution, derived from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite instrument and the Multi-Angle Implementation of Atmospheric Correction (MAIAC) algorithm in order to assess the utility of highly refined spatiotemporal air pollution data in 92 California cities and in the 13 communities included in the California Community Air Protection Program. The identification of pollution hot-spots within a city is typically not possible relying solely on the regulatory monitoring networks; however, day-to-day temporal variability was shown to be generally well represented by nearby ground-based monitoring data even in communities with strong spatial gradients in pollutant concentrations. An assessment of within-ZIP Code variability in pollution estimates indicates that high-resolution pollution estimates (i.e., 1 km2) are not always needed to identify spatial differences in exposure but become increasingly important for larger geographic areas (approximately 50 km2). Taken together, these findings can help inform strategies for use of remote sensing data for air quality management including the screening of locations with air pollution exposures that are not well represented by existing ground-based air pollution monitors.