Lawsuits in the Clean Air Program. The Problem Is Growing

• The funds are overdue with payments of over one billion zlotys in the Clean Air program.
• Greater Poland started its first industry strikes due to arrears.
• The Employers' Association calls for a solution to the problem of payment backlogs.

Lech Obara's Olsztyn-based law firm is filing the first payment claims against the Voivodeship Funds for Environmental Protection and Water Management on behalf of its clients. It is estimated that the funds nationwide are overdue in payments of over one billion złoty to beneficiaries and contractors of the "Clean Air" program, Radio Olsztyn reported.

Attorney Lech Obara says he believes that some time ago there were voices about irregularities in the program.

"We were alerted to the unreliability of companies in fulfilling their obligations regarding program implementation . It turned out that the real, larger problem is the problem of contractors who have completed their work and who cannot receive payment," he told Radio Olsztyn.

The problem is growing because despite the government's promise to repay last year's arrears under the Clean Air program by the end of September 2025, the money has not been transferred to the accounts.

Therefore, on October 2nd , the first strikes by the industry and beneficiaries began in Greater Poland due to the government's failure to fulfill its promise to repay the arrears from 2024 under the program by September 30th, 2025.

The program's reform has caused a stagnation in payments. Companies that installed furnaces and insulated homes are taking out loans or declaring bankruptcy while waiting for the money . Szymon Dwórznik, an attorney from an Olsztyn law firm that files lawsuits for outstanding payments, reports that the number of businesses filing lawsuits is increasing daily .

Bartosz Nowicki, president of the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Olsztyn, explained on Radio Olsztyn:

We currently have funds available from all funding sources used by the program. From the moment our staff approves the application, the transfer is sent within three days, usually the next day.

Let us recall that the Clean Air Employers' Association recently sent a letter to Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in which it emphasized that "months of enormous payment backlogs and growing arrears have led to a crisis of confidence on an unprecedented scale, and companies that participated in the program are facing bankruptcy."

Mariusz Dąbek, president of the association, demands the urgent convening of a crisis roundtable with the participation of representatives of the ministry, the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, producers, installers, the social side, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations in order to develop a real rescue plan and systemic guarantees of the program's financial liquidity in the future.