Polish city one of the most polluted places in Europe

After many world leaders made sweeping promises to tackle climate change at a U.S.-led summit on Thursday, the reality for some individual countries is that thousands of jobs and sometimes entire sectors rely on the most polluting industries.

In the Polish city of Rybnik, thought to be one of the most polluted places in Europe, massive coal-powered power stations provide around 20 per cent of the country's total energy.

But that energy comes at a cost - the health of the city's residents, who complain of poor air quality trapping them in their homes.

Speaking to U.K. broadcaster Sky, Emil Nagalewski said his family "feel like prisoners in our own homes".

"We check the air quality on our smart phones and we know that we can't go out for our own health. This is not a normal situation," he said.

Nagalewski has installed an air filter in his apartment to try and tackle the problem, but after just 10-12 weeks the filters are black with pollution.

His young son had recently been part of a survey where children in Rybnik were compared with the French city of Strasbourg - the results of the study showed that Polish children had five times the amount of black coal particles in their body than their French counterparts.

Joanna Bulandra, a Rybnik resident for more than 40 years, told Sky that while climate change might not affect her, she'd like the issues tackled for her children and grandchildren to "live in a good world", but added that she didn't "have much hope."

Rybnik is not alone in it's pollution - Sky on Thursday reported that Poland as a country is exceeding European air quality standards, with higher amounts of airborne particles than any other country.

While the European Union says it wants to achieve net zero carbon by 2050, Poland may be falling behind, with 70 per cent of its energy provided by coal power stations.

Another difficulty is that the industry also provides many jobs, with around 150,000 people working for the sector.

MEP for Poland's ruling Law and Order party Dominik Tarczynski told Sky that ultimately the issue is "all about money" because "the money will provide the stable jobs."

The U.S. government is bringing out the billionaires, the CEOs and the union executives Friday to help sell President Joe Biden's climate-friendly transformation of the U.S. economy at the second day of the summit of world leaders.

The closing day of the two-day summit on climate change is to feature Bill Gates and Mike Bloomberg, steelworker and electrical union leaders and executives for solar and other renewable energy.

As a part of the summit's second day, Biden is also scheduled to speak about “economic opportunities of climate action”, with leaders from many countries, including Poland, expected to participate.