Green Warriors: Coal in the Lugs

A film by Martin Boudot
First broadcast September 19, 2021 on France 5

Every year, 500,000 Europeans are meet a premature fate due to air pollution.

One of the main causes of this pollution is coal – a fuel that is still used in many European countries.

And this air pollution has no borders – it spreads its contamination throughout the continent, where citizens fight every day for their basic right to breathable air.

Many doctors have raised the alarm, but there is a lack of evidence to make real change.

Together with scientists and citizens, a team of journalists sets out to search for evidence of air contamination. They will carry out a unique, one-of-a-kind scientific study: comparing the levels of carcinogenic pollutants found in the bodies of European children.

Despite the hardships and an arrest by the police, after a year of investigations, their results make the headlines, force a government to act and will draw the attention of the European Parliament.

Will the powerful coal lobby resist these revelations?