Changing the coal status quo through scalar practices: The anti-smog movement’s contributions to Polish energy transition

Abstract

In this paper, I assert that grassroots social movements fighting against air pollution are impactful agents of energy transition. I examine a case study of the grassroots group Kraków Smog Alert and the broader anti-smog movement the group activated between the 2012-13 and 2023-24 heating seasons. Using supporting data from participant observation, qualitative interviews, legal process tracing, and unobtrusive research, I argue that the movement furthered Poland’s energy transition along multiple dimensions. The dominant sociotechnical imaginary that links Polish nationhood to coal and the resigned sense that nothing can be done to change air quality both shifted due to the movement’s campaigns. The movement’s coalition-building has expanded the constituency involved in energy governance within Poland. Its contributions are enshrined in law and policy at local, regional, and national levels. This case study underscores the need to apprehend air pollution struggles as energy transition struggles, as well as to study energy transition’s subnational spatial dynamism, specifically the scalar practices of social movement actors. My data show how context-sensitive reinforcement of grassroots activity and multi-level alignment in the legal realm are mechanisms for counter-hegemonic change. Such processes are not captured in state-centric, national-level, and electricity system-focused studies.