Highlights

• The investigation is being conducted at the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.
• Changes made to the Clean Air Programme in 2022 and 2023 led to subsequent problems for beneficiaries and dishonest practices by some contractors.
• These have led to around 700 investigations currently underway across the country, conducted by public prosecutors, including the European Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Police, some of which were initiated following reports from the NFEP&WM and voivodship funds for environmental protection and water management (VFEP&WMs).
• The new Clean Air programme minimises the risk of irregularities. It protects Polish families from dishonest contractors and untested technologies.

In 2022, significant changes were made to the Programme, introducing pre-financing without the necessary safeguards, and in 2023, unit cost limits for thermal modernisation were abolished. During a meeting with the media, Minister of Climate and Environment Paulina Hennig-Kloska announced that the Ministry, the NFEP&WM and the VFEP&WMs would urgently provide investigators with all the necessary information.

I don’t know if there has ever been a minister in the history of free Poland who was actually pleased to have CBA officers visit his/her ministry, but I must admit that we have been waiting for this moment for a very long time.  We will, of course, provide the officers with all the necessary documents with due diligence so that they can thoroughly assess everything that has happened since 2021 in the Clean Air programme – a process whose repair was probably one of the most difficult challenges we have faced over the last two years in this ministry, under enormous social and media pressure

– said Paulina Hennig-Kloska during a meeting with journalists.

Due to irregularities, the current management of the NFEP&WM decided in 2024 to suspend the programme. In the new Clean Air programme, which was relaunched in spring 2025, rules were introduced in cooperation with the Ministry of Climate and Environment to enhance beneficiaries’ safety and protect them from abuse.

In November 2024, we took the most far-reaching decision: we temporarily suspended the Clean Air programme. We concluded at the time that we cannot change the wheels on a moving car – the programme required a thorough overhaul

– added Paulina Hennig-Kloska. 

The Ministry, NFEP&WM and the voivodship funds are cooperating fully with the public prosecutor’s office and the relevant authorities. All requested documents will be provided by the deadline set by CBA.

All measures taken to clarify the matter are in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the Clean Air programme. Changes to the programme introduced several years ago, without adequate safeguards for beneficiaries, have created room for irregularities and abuses, which are harming Polish families. Reports on this matter have been sent to law enforcement agencies.

Two changes to the Clean Air Programme, which effectively opened the programme up to abuse, caught our particular attention. It was in July 2022 that a pre-financing mechanism was introduced, without any safeguards or the necessary protections for programme beneficiaries. In our view, it was at that point, amongst other things, that fraud began to occur. Another such element was the change in January 2023, when unit cost limits – that is, maximum prices for thermal modernisation components – were abolished. It was then that the infamous doors costing 40,000 PLN appeared, or the 140% increase in the cost of replacing windows

– said Minister of Climate and Environment Paulina Hennig-Kloska.

Today, the programme is safe for beneficiaries. And the Ministry of Climate and Environment has drafted a bill to assist those affected by the Clean Air programme, so that the State can pursue claims against the actual perpetrators, rather than the victims. The new regulations provide for the possibility of suspending the recovery of outstanding advance payments from those affected and recovering funds from dishonest companies.