Billionaire Preaches Ecology in Europe’s Smoggy Coal Heartland

(Bloomberg) -- Zygmunt Solorz, a media-shy Polish billionaire who owns lignite-fired power plants and a TV network, just spoke out on an unexpected subject: ecology.

Solorz, who made his $2.5 billion fortune on mobile phones and television, plans to set up an association called Clean Poland Program that will encourage Poles to care more about clean air.

The European Union's largest eastern economy is home to 36 of 50 most polluted cities in the bloc. The smog, whose levels at some Polish towns at times exceed those in Beijing or Delhi, has become a major social issue in the country depending on coal for 80% of its energy consumption.

Solorz “lives on the outskirts of Warsaw and experiences smog everyday himself,” his spokesman Tomasz Matwiejczuk told Bloomberg News by phone. He added that the amount of money Solorz wants to commit will be announced when the association is registered in court.

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The 63-year-old billionaire, whose main asset is a media and telecom platform Cyfrowy Polsat SA, says his companies are reducing carbon footprint by replacing lignite with biomass fuel, investing in solar power and switching to electric cars. Solorz also plans to use his broadcaster Polsat to promote the green initiative.

The plan is announced at a time lignite deposits at Solorz-controlled utility ZE PAK SA are running out, while more and more Polish companies are turning green as a jump in the prices of carbon-dioxide permits pushed up energy costs.

Air pollution in Poland is the highest in the heating season, which sometimes lasts longer than six months. Some Poles living in smaller towns and the countryside burn not just coal and wood, but also garbage.

Billionaire charities and social initiatives are common globally. Bill Gates, whose foundation is the world's largest, and Warren Buffett, who has vowed to give away the majority of his wealth were followed earlier this year by MacKenzie Bezos, who promised to give away at least half her $36.6 billion fortune after her divorce from Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos.

“I'm a father and a grandfather,” Solorz was quoted as saying in a press release. “I want to give my granddaughters a chance to live in a world that's not only modern, but also clean.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Maciej Martewicz in Warsaw at mmartewicz@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Wojciech Moskwa at wmoskwa@bloomberg.net, Maciej Onoszko, Piotr Bujnicki

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