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S
ustainability
P
olicies
, P
rogrammes
and
their
E
conomic
I
mpact
co-generation, with a budget of more than US$90
million
• Energy distribution will be improved through power
reduction and heat network losses with a budget of
about US$180 million.
The Fund also supports activities aimed at meeting
Polish obligations resulting from the Climate
Convention, the Biodiversity Convention and a number
of European Union programmes as well as financing
environmental education in the country. Its success
is a result of earmarking revenues, separate from the
state budget, in the form of a dedicated fund with
strict financing rules, with proper management the key
to ensuring effectiveness and transparency. This is a
universal tool that can easily be implemented in many
countries to leverage ‘green’ investments.
Using the global carbon market
Economic restructuring in the 1990s focused on reduc-
ing national economic impact on the environment and
decoupling GDP growth from emissions levels. As a
result, Poland will have GHGs well below the target set
under the Kyoto Protocol, amounting to a surplus of
around 500 million Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) in
the period 2008-2012. In order to manage the proceeds
from selling AAUs, a Green Investment Scheme (GIS)
was established.
GIS supports investments in areas where the poten-
tial for GHG reduction is measurable and verifiable,
and where public funds are needed to remove major
fines, while revenues were directed to dedicated environmental funds.
The most important of these is the National Fund for Environmental
Protection andWater Management. Established in 1989, in combination
with regional funds for environmental protection andwatermanagement,
it underpins the country’s environmental protection financing.
The Fund is the largest public finance sector institution in Poland
and runs its own financial management, supplied mainly from fees
and fines generated in a variety of areas, including the environment,
service and concession fees and recycling fees. Between 1989 and
2010, the National Fund allocated more than US$9.5 billion financing
of environmental undertakings across 16,000 contracts. Its average
annual funds disbursement –mainly soft loans and grants – amounts
to US$1.3-2.6 billion. Initially, significant support was earmarked for
water conservation and management, as well as air protection, which
resulted in the country’s improved living conditions.
A measurable effect of projects being financed by the Fund is
environmental improvement, including reductions in air pollutant
emissions, power consumption and wastewater, along with better
waste management and increasing environmental awareness. The
number of cities supported by sewage treatment plants has doubled
since the Fund began, while there have been significant decreases
in untreated sewage discharged to water or land (90 per cent),
emissions of particulates (95 per cent) and GHGs released into the
atmosphere (63 per cent).
Today, the key priorities are energy efficiency improvement,
climate protection and renewable energy sources development. The
Fund will play a major role in supporting the greening of the Polish
economy. These include:
• Renewable energy programmes with a budget of US$660 million
• Highly efficient energy generation, including construction
and upgrading of heat and power generation facilities and
Poland’s resource efficiency factor has increased by 15 per cent in the last decade
Image: Ministry of Environment, Poland