Tools for promoting environmental sustainability in Poland

Abstract

There are many EU documents which promote sustainable development, e.g. EU Sustainable Development Strategy, Europe 2020 Flagship Initiative-Innovation Union, EC Communication on a Roadmap to a Resource-Efficient Europe, as well as the Eco-innovation Action Plan. One of the important features of these documents is their continuous promotion of the development of eco-innovation and the implementation of environmentally-friendly technologies. They can play a key role in raising standards of living contributing to decrease material inputs, reduce energy consumption and emissions, recover valuable by-products and minimize waste. There are many different tools and incentives for the development and assessment of pro-ecological solutions i.e. Eco-Label, ETAP, SCP/SIP, EMAS, IPPC, Energy-using Product Directive, GPP. In the EU and also in Poland there are policies for increasing environmental standards and decreasing the negative impact on the environment by using both financial and non-financial incentives. One of the most popular tools is financial support for investment projects contributing to sustainable development, which is available from EU funds (Structural Funds) and from different state funds at both national and regional levels. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the indicators for evaluating environmental effects used by different environmental funds in Poland and to propose Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) as a tool for assessment of the environmental impact of investment projects supported by these funds.