Future Perfect

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ustainability

olicies

, P

rogrammes

and

their

conomic

mpact

bottlenecks to sustainable investing. It is most effective in areas

to ensure quick mitigation, where demand for investments exists

in both private and public sectors.

Priorities within GIS include:

• Energy management in public service buildings, aimed at

reducing or avoiding carbon dioxide emissions through

co-financing projects which improve energy efficiency

• Biomass power plants programme to construct biomass-fired

facilities – for either heat, or heat and power generation – to

distribute sources of nominal thermal capacity below 20 MW

• Agricultural biogas plants programme – supporting

construction of power or power and heat production facilities

– to build or upgrade installations producing agricultural biogas

allowing injection into the gas distribution network

• Upgrading the electricity grid to connect renewable sources

of energy, covering the construction, expansion and upgrade

of networks – mainly wind.

The GIS budget is nearly US$105 million, with its record proving

it was right to establish a dedicated mechanism connected with the

global carbon market. This system has been instrumental in facili-

tating a technology shift, transferring know-how and implementing

an eco-design approach across many facilities and products.

’Swap for green’: foreign debt-for-environment swap

In 1991, the Paris Club united countries that were creditors of

Poland and decided to reduce Polish debt by fifty per cent provid-

ing the remainder was paid off by 2010. Poland proposed a further

10 per cent should be written off, provided that the corresponding

amount was allocated for supporting the most urgent

environmental protection needs. The Polish EcoFund

Foundation was established in 1992 to manage its

funds, until in 2009, Polish debt to the Paris Club was

fully repaid and the programme had run its course.

The ‘Swap for green’ project was the first project

of its kind in the world. It was an innovative way of

allocating a portion of government-secured debt to envi-

ronmental protection. During the operating period of

the Foundation, its budget amounted to over US$570

million, which included contributions fromUSA, France,

Switzerland, Italy, Norway and Sweden. The Treasury

paid the money into the Foundation’s account as instal-

ments of the Polish debt were due and it was the basic

source of the Foundation’s revenues, which were subse-

quently invested in environmental protection projects.

Applicants could obtain grants for the implemen-

tation of projects within five priority sectors: air

protection, water protection, climate protection,

nature conservation and waste management. Activities

within each sector were focused depending on the

urgency of needs and the availability of mature, well-

developed project proposals.

Existing nature protection measures were comple-

mented by environmental protection and selected

sustainable development approaches, not commonly

recognized at the time. The Foundation was launched

to be the agency responsible for managing the debt-

for-environment swap programme by providing grants

Companies selected for the GreenEvo project participate in specialized training sessions

Image: Ministry of Environment, Poland