CHALLENGES RELATED TO LOCAL GOVERNMENTAL CLIMATE POLICY BY THE EXAMPLE OF MUNICIPALITIES OF THE POVIAT OF JĘDRZEJÓW

Abstract

The climate policy is currently one of the most discussed issues in Central and Eastern Europe. Carbon neutrality, declared by European Union countries to be achieved until 2050, is going to be particularly difficult for such large countries as Poland in the said region. In this paper we focus on the issues related to investments in air and climate protection with particular consideration of the Polish conditions on the level of local government and underline importance of the local government unit of Polish poviat as a convenient area for investment-related cooperation of municipalities, aiming at energy transition of these units into areas friendly for both inhabitants and climate. The research problem is to define most important changes faced by local authorities to implementing in local climate policy. This paper also presents thoughts on development of the idea how to plan local investments to be used in order to achieve energy transition in Poland, it also includes an empirical analysis of investment activity of local authorities in the years 2010–18 in terms of air and climate protection in the poviat of Jędrzejów situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship. The considerations included in the research part of the paper were based on results of analyses of local documents, financial reports of local governments being analyzed and information contained in publicly available statistical data