COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT The EU Environmental Implementation Review Country Report - POLAND Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions The EU Environmental Implementation Review: Common Challenges and how to combine efforts to deliver better results
Inhoudsopgave van deze pagina:
Council of the European Union
Brussels, 6 February 2017 (OR. en)
5967/17 ADD 22
ENV 103 ECOFIN 70 SOC 68 COMPET 74 POLGEN 9 CONSOM 37
COVER NOTE
From: Secretary-General of the European Commission, signed by Mr Jordi AYET PUIGARNAU, Director
date of receipt: 6 February 2017
To: Mr Jeppe TRANHOLM-MIKKELSEN, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union
No. Cion doc.: SWD(2017) 53 final
Subject: COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
The EU Environmental Implementation Review
Country Report - POLAND
Accompanying the document
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
The EU Environmental Implementation Review: Common Challenges and
how to combine efforts to deliver better results
Delegations will find attached document SWD(2017) 53 final.
Encl.: SWD(2017) 53 final
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Brussels, 3.2.2017 SWD(2017) 53 final
COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT
The EU Environmental Implementation Review
Country Report - POLAND
Accompanying the document
Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions
The EU Environmental Implementation Review: Common Challenges and how to
combine efforts to deliver better results
{COM(2017) 63 final i} {SWD(2017) 33 - 52 final} {SWD(2017) 54 - 60 final}
Poland 2
This report has been written by the staff of the Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission. Any comments are welcome to the following e-mail address: ENV-EIR@ec.europa.eu
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More information on the European Union is available on the internet ( http://europa.eu ).
Photographs: p.11 ©Shaiith/iStock; p.12 ©LIFE06 NAT/PL/000105/KAMINSKI Tomasz; p.19
©DirtyProduction/iStock; p.24 ©Luke Daniek/iStock
For reproduction or use of these photos, permission must be sought directly from the copyright holder.
©European Union, 2017
Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged.
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................................................................................... 4
PART I: THEMATIC AREAS ............................................................................................................................... 6
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1.TURNING THE EU INTO A CIRCULAR, RESOURCE-EFFICIENT, GREEN AND COMPETITIVE LOW-
CARBON ECONOMY ............................................................................................................................... 6
Developing a circular economy and improving resource efficiency ..................................................... 6
Waste management .............................................................................................................................. 8
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2.PROTECTING, CONSERVING AND ENHANCING NATURAL CAPITAL ..................................................... 10
Nature and Biodiversity ....................................................................................................................... 10
Estimating Natural capital ................................................................................................................... 12
Green Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................... 12
Soil protection ..................................................................................................................................... 12
Marine protection ............................................................................................................................... 13
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3.ENSURING CITIZENS' HEALTH AND QUALITY OF LIFE .......................................................................... 15
Air quality ............................................................................................................................................ 15
Noise ................................................................................................................................................. 16
Water quality and management ......................................................................................................... 17
International agreements ................................................................................................................... 19
PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK: IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ..................................................................... 20
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4.MARKET BASED INSTRUMENTS AND INVESTMENT ............................................................................ 20
Green taxation and environmentally harmful subsidies ..................................................................... 20
Green Public Procurement .................................................................................................................. 21
Investments: the contribution of EU funds ......................................................................................... 21
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5.EFFECTIVE GOVERNANCE AND KNOWLEDGE ........................................................................................... 24
Effective governance within central, regional and local government ................................................. 24
Compliance assurance ......................................................................................................................... 26
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Public participation and access to justice ........................................................................................... 27
Access to information, knowledge and evidence ................................................................................ 28
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Executive summary
About the Environmental Implementation Review Poland has significantly improved its environmental
In May 2016, the Commission launched the performance since joining the EU in 2004. In many cases, Environmental Implementation Review (EIR), a two-year the incorrect or delayed full transposition of directives cycle of analysis, dialogue and collaboration to improve led to implementation gaps (for example the the implementation of existing EU environmental policy Environmental Impact Assessment Directive, the Urban and legislation 1 . As a first step, the Commission drafted Waste Water Treatment Directive). Therefore, as a first 28 reports describing the main challenges and step, national legislation had to be changed to address opportunities on environmental implementation for each the identified transposition deficiencies before the Member State. These reports are meant to stimulate a directives could be implemented correctly. Several areas positive debate both on shared environmental challenges remain problematic, in particular implementation of the for the EU, as well as on the most effective ways to Water Framework Directive and the Air Quality Directive. address the key implementation gaps. The reports rely on Poland is encouraged to make better use of the EU Funds the detailed sectoral implementation reports collected or to address these challenges and enhance its issued by the Commission under specific environmental administrative capacity.
legislation as well as the 2015 State of the Environment Main Challenges
Report and other reports by the European Environment
Agency. These reports will not replace the specific The three main challenges to implementing EU instruments to ensure compliance with the EU legal environmental policy and law in Poland are:
obligations. Improving the implementation of the Water
The reports will broadly follow the outline of the 7th Framework Directive, in particular as regards the Environmental Action Programme 2 and refer to the 2030 governance and strategic planning of projects in Agenda for Sustainable development and related navigation, hydropower, flood defence and of any Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 to the extent to other economic activities likely to have significant which they reflect the existing obligations and policy negative effects on the water environment;
objectives of EU environmental law 4 . Preparing and implementing the investments required to meet the objectives and standards of the
The main challenges have been selected by taking into Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive; account factors such as the importance or the gravity of Improving the implementation and enforcement of the environmental implementation issue in the light of air quality standards, in particular by establishing the impact on the quality of life of the citizens, the emission standards for coal-fired individual heaters.
distance to target, and financial implications. Main Opportunities
The reports accompany the Communication "The EU
Environmental Implementation Review 2016: Common Poland could perform better on topics where there is challenges and how to combine efforts to deliver better already a good knowledge base and good practices. This results", which identifies challenges that are common to applies in particular to:
several Member States, provides preliminary conclusions Preparing national and regional waste management on possible root causes of implementation gaps and plans that would move Poland towards prevention proposes joint actions to deliver better results. It also and recycling rather than creating incineration groups in its Annex the actions proposed in each country overcapacities; report to improve implementation at national level. Using new approaches such as green infrastructure
General profile to manage flood risk (e.g. restoration of floodplains, wetlands);
Undertaking measures to foster R&D in ecoinnovation and the use of green technologies by
1 Communication "Delivering the benefits of EU environmental policies SMEs.
through a regular Environmental Implementation Review" ( COM/2016/ 316 final ).
2 Decision No. 1386/2013/EU of 20 November 2013 on a General Union Points of Excellence
Environmental Action Programme to 2020 " Living well, within the
limits of our planet ". Where Poland is a leader on environmental
3 United Nations, 2015. The Sustainable Development Goals implementation, innovative approaches could be shared
4 This EIR report does not cover climate change, chemicals and energy. more widely with other countries. Good examples are:
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Integrated assessment procedures under the
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Habitats Directives carried out by the Regional Directorates for Environmental Protection;
The national network of environmental and managing authorities that works as a platform for sharing experience in integrating environmental issues into operational programmes co-financed
under the EU Funds.
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Part I: Thematic Areas
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1.Turning the EU into a circular, resource-efficient, green and
competitive low-carbon economy
Developing a circular economy and improving The Polish green technology and eco-innovation markets
resource efficiency are still in the phase of development and have considerable growth potential. Environmental
The 2015 Circular Economy Package emphasizes the need technologies represented an investment of 0.38 % of to move towards a lifecycle-driven ‘circular’ economy, GDP from the public sector and 0.29 % of GDP from the with a cascading use of resources and residual waste that private sector in 2011. This is mainly thanks to dedicated is close to zero. This can be facilitated by the instruments funded by the National Fund for development of, and access to, innovative financial Environmental Protection and Water Management. instruments and funding for eco-innovation. Moreover, Poland sees investment in environmental
SDG 8 invites countries to promote sustained, inclusive technologies as an important area of investment of and sustainable economic growth, full and productive operational programmes for 2014-2020.
employment and decent work for all. SDG 9 highlights Poland is performing below the EU average in terms of the need to build resilient infrastructure, promote resource productivity (i.e. how efficiently the economy inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster uses material resources to produce wealth), with innovation. SDG 12 encourages countries to achieve the 0.64 EUR/kg in 2015 (the EU average is 1.982.0 EUR/kg). 6 sustainable management and efficient use of natural As shown in Figure 1, this represents a slight but steady resources by 2030. increase since 2011.
Measures towards a circular economy Figure 1: Resource productivity 2003-2015 7
Transforming our economies from linear to circular offers an opportunity to reinvent them and make them more sustainable and competitive. This will stimulate investment and bring both short and long-term benefits
for the economy, environment and citizens. 5
The Polish economy is among the least resource- and energy-efficient in the EU. Per capita domestic material consumption has grown since the early 2000s to reach
20.7 tonnes per capita, compared to the EU average of
14.5 tonnes, but decreased to 17.2 tonnes in 2014. These trends present both a challenge and a considerable economic opportunity for the country, which is still undergoing the process of economic modernisation. In
2015, the Minister for Economic Development
established a multi-stakeholder group whose task is to SMEs and resource efficiency
develop a circular economy roadmap. Poland SMEs scored close to or above the EU average for
Furthermore, while Poland may expect improvements in resource efficiency. 48 % of Poland’s SMEs have invested eco-innovation investments and activities in the coming up to 5 % of their annual turnover in their resource years, the overall shift towards a more resource-efficient efficiency actions (EU28 average 50 %), 28 % of them economy will require long-term systemic innovation. currently offer green products and services (EU28 Implementing eco-innovation should be seen as an average 26 %), 64 % have taken measures to save energy economic opportunity rather than a cost – particularly for (EU28 average 59 %), 54 % to minimise waste (EU28 the private sector, which could be further encouraged average 60 %), 52 % to save water (EU28 average 44 %),
and supported by the public authorities.
6 Resource productivity is defined as the ratio between gross domestic
product (GDP) and domestic material consumption (DMC).
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and 64 % to save materials (EU28 average 54 %). From a CSO 2015). The companies developing environmental circular economy perspective, 31 % have taken measures technologies also pointed to the importance of customer to recycle by reusing material or waste within the demands, even though only a minority of customers company (EU28 average 40 %), 16 % to design products consider environmental benefits key to their purchasing that are easier to maintain, repair or reuse (EU28 average decisions. 22 %) and 27 % were able to sell their scrap material to
another company (EU28 average 25 %). 8 Figure 2: Eco-Innovation Index 2015 (EU=100)
10
The measures taken by SMEs to improve resource efficiency meant production costs were reduced in 35 % of Poland’s SMEs (EU28 average 45 %).
Moreover, 34 % of the SMEs in the Poland have one or more full time employee working in a green job at least some of the time (EU28 average 35 %). Poland has an average number of 2.5 full time green employees per
SME (EU28 average 1.7 %). 9
Poland has 70 EMAS registered organisations, which is a fair share of the 4 034 organisations that hold a registration. Poland has 30 EU Ecolabel licences (total number of licences is 1 875), making it the tenth-highest achiever in terms of EU Ecolabel licences.
Eco-innovation
Poland is among the countries with persistently low scores in the European Eco-innovation Scoreboard since
2010. In the 2015 edition, Poland came second last among EU countries, with a score significantly below the
EU average (59 out of 100) as shown in Figure 2. The overall low score in the index, especially in terms of ecoinnovation inputs and activities, reflects Poland’s low level of innovation in general.
Poland performs significantly below the EU average in all the scoreboard components. The country’s performance
is particularly weak in terms of inputs to eco-innovation The most significant barriers faced by companies that activities, including R&D investments and R&D personnel implement eco-innovation were economic: lack of funds; and early-stage investments in green technologies. difficult access to capital; the relatively high cost of eco Private early-stage green investments have been among innovative technologies; uncertain market demand and the lowest in the EU – levels similar to other countries in uncertain return on investment; the lack of economic and central and eastern Europe. Poland exceeds the EU fiscal incentives; and growing competition. Companies average only in one indicator: revenues in eco-industries also indicated that administrative barriers were a (as a percentage of total revenues across all companies). problem, often in relation to Poland’s risk-averse public
The key drivers of eco-innovation for companies in procurement practices.
Poland include high operating costs, the willingness to Suggested action
reduce material and energy costs, and companies’
willingness to access new markets, increase • Raise awareness of the public and SMEs on the benefits competitiveness and improve company reputation (PARP, of circular economy.
8 European Commission, 2015. Flash 426 Eurobarometer ‘SMEs,
resource efficiency and green markets’.
9 The Flash 426 Eurobarometer ‘SMEs, resource efficiency and green
markets’ defines a ‘green job’ as a job that directly deals with information, technologies, or materials that preserves or restores environmental quality. This requires specialised skills, knowledge, training, or experience (e.g. verifying compliance with environmental legislation, monitoring resource efficiency within the company,
promoting and selling green products and services). 10 Eco-innovation Observatory : Eco-Innovation scoreboard 2015.
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Waste management
Turning waste into a resource requires:
− full implementation of EU waste legislation, which includes the waste hierarchy; the need to ensure separate collection of waste; and landfill diversion targets.
− reducing per capita waste generation and waste generation in absolute terms.
− limiting energy recovery to non-recyclable materials and phasing out landfilling of recyclable or recoverable waste. In 2014, Poland generated 272 kg/y/inhabitant in
SDG 12 invites countries to substantially reduce waste municipal waste; this is well below the EU average (475
generation by 2030 through prevention, reduction, kg per capita). 12 Figure 3 depicts the municipal waste by
recycling and reuse. treatment in Poland in terms of kg per capita, and shows an increase in recycling and a reduction in landfilling.
The EU’s approach to waste management is based on the
‘waste hierarchy’ which sets an order of priority when As shown in Figure 4, 32 % of municipal waste is recycled shaping waste policy and managing waste at the (material recycling and composting). This was below the operational level: prevention, preparing for reuse, EU average (44 %) in 2014. Poland must therefore invest recycling, recovery and, as the least preferred option, strongly in recycling in the coming years in order to reach disposal (which includes landfilling and incineration the 2020 recycling target.
13
without energy recovery). Figure 4: Recycling rate of municipal waste 2007-2014 14
The progress towards reaching recycling targets and the adoption of adequate Waste Management Plans and
Waste Prevention Programmes should be the key indicators when measuring Member States’ performance. This section focuses on the management of municipal waste for which EU law sets mandatory recycling targets.
Figure 3: Municipal waste by treatment in Poland 2007-
2014 11
12 Eurostat, Municipal waste and treatment, by type of treatment
method, accessed October 2016. Note: the reported quantities of waste generated and treated do not match exactly for the following reasons: estimates for the population not covered by collection schemes, weight losses due to dehydration, double counts of waste undergoing two or more treatment steps, exports and imports of waste and time lags between generation and treatment (temporary storage).
13 Member States may choose a different method than the one used by ESTAT (and referred to in this report) to calculate their recycling rates and track compliance with the 2020 target of 50 % recycling of municipal waste.
11 Eurostat, Municipal waste, accessed October 2016. 14 Eurostat, Recycling rate of municipal waste , accessed October 2016.
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waste legislation could create more than 37,000 jobs in Poland and increase the annual turnover of the waste sector by over EUR 4 billion. Moving towards zero landfilling could increase this to over 44,000 additional jobs and increase the annual turnover by over EUR 4.6
bn. 17
Suggested action
• Pursue the review of the level of landfill gate fees and consider introducing incineration fees, to more effectively divert waste towards higher ends of the waste hierarchy and to make recycling and reuse economically attractive as indicated in the new national Waste Management Plan. Use the revenues to support the separate collection and alternative infrastructure at the first steps of waste hierarchy.
Although Poland is taking steps to improve its waste Avoid building excessive infrastructure for the treatment, a large part of the country’s municipal waste treatment of residual waste. is still being disposed of in landfills. Poland landfilled 53 % • Focus on implementation of the separate collection of its municipal waste in 2014, which is well above the EU obligation to increase recycling rates, in particular by average (28 %). However, Poland reported that in 2014 it introducing mandatory separate collection of had already met the 2020 target for diverting recyclable waste by households and establishing sites biodegradable waste from landfills (35 %). for collection of specific waste (so called 'points for
In order to help bridge the implementation gap in collection of selective waste') in each municipality.
Poland, the Commission has delivered a roadmap for • Extend and improve the cost-effectiveness, monitoring compliance in which economic instruments play a crucial and transparency of existing Extended Producer
role. 15 Responsibility schemes and eliminate free-riding (situations where some producers do not adequately
Illegal landfilling and dumping waste in forests is a comply with their obligations under EPR). pressing problem despite Poland’s ongoing efforts to • Strengthen the enforcement of the waste legislation, in clean up the dumping sites. According to a recent report particular the control of entities involved in
by the Supreme Audit Office, 16 this is mainly due to management and disposal of waste, as well as set up insufficient checks on enterprises dealing with waste effective sanctions for municipalities or local management and a lack of sites for treating and disposing authorities to ensure they put more effort to curbing of specific waste (e.g. electronic waste, municipal bulky illegal waste dumping practices. waste). The municipalities are chiefly responsible for enforcing waste legislation and addressing these shortcomings, and their role requires strengthening. The updated the National Waste Management Plan and ongoing update of the regional waste management plans
(to be completed by the end of 2016) is encouraging, as the planned waste management infrastructure will be reviewed in order to avoid incineration overcapacities which could further compromise recycling of waste.
Moreover, any EU co-financed investment is set to be aligned with those plans.
The Polish economy would benefit from a comprehensive waste management system coherent with the principles of the circular economy (via material and energy savings, jobs, reduced outlays on environment clean-up).
Estimates show that full implementation of existing 17 Bio Intelligence service, 2011. Implementing EU Waste legislation for
Green Growth , study for European Commission. The breakdown per country on job creation was made by the consultant at the
15 Roadmap for Poland. Commission’s request, but was not included in the published
16 Raport Najwyższej Izby Kontroli 'Wdrożenie w gminach nowego document.
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2.Protecting, conserving and enhancing natural capital
Nature and Biodiversity substantial progress in recent years, the objective of
complete designation of the network has not yet been The EU Biodiversity Strategy aims to halt the loss of
biodiversity in the EU by 2020, restore ecosystems and fully met.
their services in so far as feasible, and step up efforts to Figure 5: Sufficiency assessment of SCI networks in avert global biodiversity loss. The EU Birds and Habitats Poland based on the situation until December 2013
Directives aim at achieving favourable conservation (%) 20
status of protected species and habitats.
SDG 14 requires countries to conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources, while SDG 15 requires countries to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.
The 1992 EU Habitats Directive and the 1979 Birds
Directive are the cornerstone of the European legislation aimed at conserving the EU’s wildlife. Natura 2000, the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world, is the key instrument to achieve and implement the Directives’ objectives of ensuring the long-term protection, conservation and survival of Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats and the ecosystems they underpin.
The adequate designation of protected sites as Special
Ares of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats Directive
and as Special Protection Areas (SPA) under the Birds There are still gaps particularly with regard to certain
Directive is a key milestone towards meeting the marine species e.g. porpoise, bats, alkaline fens and objectives of the Directives. The results of Habitats certain forest habitats. 21 Poland has designated no sites Directive Article 17 and Birds Directive Article 12 reports as SACs according to Article 4(4) of the Habitats Directive.
and the progress towards adequate Sites of Community
Importance (SCI)-SPA and SAC designation 18 both on land According to the latest report on the conservation status and at sea, should be the key criteria for measuring of habitats and species covered by the Habitats Directive Member States’ performance. in Poland,
22 only 20 % of the habitats’ biogeographic
assessments were favourable in 2013 (EU27: 16 %).
In 2015, there were 987 Natura 2000 sites in Poland: 849 Furthermore, 50 % were considered to be unfavourable
SCIs and 145 SPAs. In early 2016, the Natura 2000 inadequate 23 (EU27: 47 %) and 20 % were unfavourable –
network in Poland covered approx. 19.6 % of the land territory, with 15.5 % SPAs and 10.9 % SCIs.
20 European Commission, internal assessment.
As shown in Figure 5 19 , although Poland has made 21 For each Member State, the Commission assesses whether the
species and habitat types in Annexes I and II to the Habitats Directive are sufficiently represented by the sites designated to date. This is
18 SCIs are designated pursuant to the Habitats Directive whereas SPAs expressed as a percentage of species and habitats for which further are designated pursuant to the Birds Directive; figures of coverage do areas need to be designated in order to complete the network in that not add up because some SCIs and SPAs overlap. SAC means an SCI country. A scientific reserve is given when further research is needed designated by the Member States. to identify the most appropriate sites to be added for a species or
19 The percentages in Figure 5 refer to percentages of the total number habitat. The current data , which were assessed in 2014-2015, reflect
of assessments (one assessment covering 1 species or 1 habitat in a the situation up until December 2013. given biographical region with the Member State); if a habitat type or 22 The core of the ‘Article 17’ report is the assessment of conservation a species occurs in more than 1 Biogeographic region within a given status of the habitats and species targeted by the Habitats Directive.
Member State, there will be as many individual assessments as there 23 Conservation status is assessed using a standard methodology as
are Biogeographic regions with an occurrence of that species or being either ‘favourable’, ‘unfavourable-inadequate’ and habitat in this Member State. ‘unfavourable-bad’, based on four parameters defined in Article 1 of
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bad (EU27: 30 %). As for the species, 33 % of the greatest threats to biodiversity in Poland. assessments were favourable in 2013 (EU27: 23 %), 37 % were unfavourable-inadequate (EU27: 42 %) and 13 % had unfavourable-bad status (EU27: 18 %). This is shown
in Figure 6. 24 Figure 7: Short-term population trend of breeding and
Figure 6: Conservation status of habitats and species in wintering bird species in Poland in 2012 (%) 26
Poland in 2007-2013 (%) 25
Conservation objectives and measures for Natura 2000 sites are established in the management plans ("Plany zadań ochronnych" and “Plany ochrony”). These plans are adopted for 10 years by the Regional Directors of Environmental Protection both for SCIs and SPAs and are legally binding. In February 2016, there were 444 management plans.
As regards birds, 50% of the breeding species showed The main challenges related to Natura 2000 include short-term increasing or stable population trends (for finalising the designation process, adopting the wintering species this figure was 11 %), as shown in management plans for the remaining sites and allocating Figure 7. sufficient resources to the management of the sites (both
for public bodies and the landowners managing the sites). In this context, it is particularly important to continue the support for extensive management of grasslands and fish ponds. The coherence of the Natura 2000 network, on the other hand, relies on ensuring that the migration corridors remain connected, especially those which are threatened by fast-developing infrastructure, such as regulation and maintenance of rivers, road transport and renewable energies.
Intensive agriculture and human-induced modifications Since the majority of the forest habitat sites designated of natural conditions (e.g. of water ecosystems) together for protection are managed by the State Forests Holding
with invasive alien species have been identified as the it is important that forest management plans for the forest districts overlapping with the Natura 2000 sites
fully take into account the conservation objectives and
the Habitats Directive.
24 Please note that a direct comparison between 2007 and 2013 data is measures specified for the individual sites. The State
complicated by the fact that Bulgaria and Romania were not covered Forests Holding should also ensure that forestry
by the 2007 reporting cycle, that the ‘unknown’ assessments have operations are in line with strict species protection
strongly diminished particularly for species, and that some reported requirements. Management in the forests which have
changes are not genuine as they result from improved data /
monitoring methods. maintained their close-to-natural character, such as the
25 These figures show the percentage of biogeographical assessments in Białowieża Forest or primeval forests in the Carpathians,
each category of conservation status for habitats and species (one should be adapted to promote natural processes,
assessment covering 1 species or 1 habitat in a given biographical including leaving trees for dead wood and natural
region with the Member State), respectively. The information is based on Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, see national summary
of Poland. 26 Article 12 of the Birds Directive - national summary of Poland .
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regeneration. symposium on ecosystem services in transdisciplinary
Suggested action approach (ECOSERV) is organised every two years. It is the only nationwide cyclical forum on ecosystem services
• Complete the Natura 2000 designation process and put in Poland.
in place clearly defined conservation objectives and the
necessary conservation measures for the sites in order Suggested action
to maintain/restore species and habitats of community • Continue support the mapping and assessment of
interest to a favourable conservation status across ecosystems and their services, valuation and develop
their natural range. natural capital accounting systems.
• Provide the appropriate resources for the management
of the Natura 2000 sites, including by promoting and
facilitating access of landowners to agri-environmental
payments. Green Infrastructure
• Continue works in scope of raising knowledge and The EU strategy on green infrastructure 29 promotes the
education about Natura 2000 as to promote social incorporation of green infrastructure into related plans acceptance and benefits from Natura 2000 network. and programmes to help overcome the fragmentation of habitats and preserve or restore ecological connectivity,
Estimating Natural capital enhance ecosystem resilience and thereby ensure the
The EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 calls on the Member continued provision of ecosystem services.
States to map and assess the state of ecosystems and Green Infrastructure provides ecological, economic and their services in their national territory by 2014, assess social benefits through natural solutions. It helps people the economic value of such services, and promote the understand the value of the benefits that nature provides integration of these values into accounting and reporting to human society and mobilises investments to sustain systems at EU and national level by 2020. and enhance them.
The key elements of Green Infrastructure in Poland are ‘preserved natural wealth’ and ‘ecological corridors and networks’. However, there is no obligation to include ecological corridors in local plans, which are the legally binding documents used when taking decisions on investments. The absence of a well-defined binding framework means there are no uniform rules to determine corridors, and no consistent network of corridors. The degree of implementation of ecological corridors therefore varies in local plans, and the concept of green infrastructure is not fully incorporated in other policies such as climate adaptation, water management, management of floods, recreation and tourism or food
The work on mapping and assessing ecosystems and their security. In particular, Poland has not fully explored the services at national level (MAES) is ongoing under the potential of green infrastructure (such as natural water National Environmental Monitoring Programme. Since retention measures) to provide ecosystem services in
February 2015, Poland has been part of ESMERALDA 27 water management for preventing floods and improving
(the EU Coordination and Support Action ‘Enhancing water quality. Water management is focused on ecosystem services mapping for policy and decisiontraditional engineering solutions which are more making’ within the Horizon 2020 programme). In expensive and often worsen the status of waters and March 2015, the Ministry of the Environment launched a nature.
project on mapping and assessing urban ecosystems,
which deals with strengthening the use of ecosystem Soil protection
services 28 to protect and develop green infrastructure in
cities. The EU Soil Thematic Strategy highlights the need to ensure a sustainable use of soils. This requires the
Poland has a National Ecosystem Services Partnership prevention of further soil degradation and the
Network led by the University of Poznań. A national preservation of its functions, as well as the restoration of
28 Ecosystem services are benefits provided by nature and on which 29 European Union, Green Infrastructure — Enhancing Europe’s Natural
human society depends, such as food, clean water and pollination. Capital, COM/2013/0249.
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degraded soils. The 2011 Road Map for Resourceassociated areas).
Efficient Europe, part of Europe 2020 Strategy provides
that by 2020, EU policies take into account their direct Figure 8 shows the different land cover types in Poland in
Figure 8: Land cover types in Poland 2012 30 2012.
The annual land take rate (growth of artificial areas) as provided by CORINE Land Cover was 0.49% in Poland over the period 2006-12, just above the EU average (0.41%). It represented 8420 hectares per year and was mainly driven by housing, services and recreation, but
also by mines, quarries and dump sites 31 .
The soil water erosion rate in 2010 was 0.96 tonnes per hectare per year, well below the EU28 average
(2.46 tonnes) 32 .
The percentage of built-up land in 2009 was 2.48 %,
below the EU average (3.23 %). 33
There are still no EU-wide datasets making it possible to provide benchmark indicators for soil organic matter decline, contaminated sites, pressures on soil biology and diffuse pollution. The EU Expert Group on Soil Protection is currently making an updated inventory and assessment of soil protection policy instruments in Poland and other EU Member States.
Marine protection
and indirect impact on land use in the EU and globally, The EU Coastal and Marine Policy and legislation require and the rate of land take is on track with an aim to that by 2020 the impact of pressures on marine waters is achieve no net land take by 2050. reduced to achieve or maintain good environmental
SDG 15 requires countries to combat desertification, status and coastal zones are managed sustainably.
restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by SDG 14 requires countries to conserve and sustainably desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve use the oceans, seas and marine resources for a land-degradation-neutral world by 2030. sustainable development.
Soil is an important resource for life and the economy. It The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) 34 aims
provides key ecosystem services including food, fibre and to achieve good environmental status (GES) of the EU’s biomass for renewable energy, carbon sequestration, marine waters by 2020 by providing an ecosystem water purification and flood regulation, and raw and approach to the management of human activities which building material. Soil is a finite and extremely fragile impact on the marine environment. The Directive resource. Land taken by urban development and requires Member States to develop and implement a infrastructure is highly unlikely to be returned to its marine strategy for their marine waters, and cooperate natural state; it consumes mostly agricultural land and with Member States sharing the same marine region or increases the fragmentation of habitats. Soil protection is subregion. not subject to a comprehensive and coherent set of rules
in the EU. Existing EU policies in areas such as agriculture, As part of their marine strategies, Member States had to water, waste, chemicals and the prevention of industrial make an initial assessment of their marine waters,
pollution do help protect soils, but the continuous
degradation of soil suggests that this protection is 30
insufficient. European Environment Agency, 2016. Land cover 2012 and changes country analysis [publication forthcoming]
31
Artificial land cover means areas used for settlements, European Environment Agency Draft results of CORINE Land Cover
production systems and infrastructure. It may itself be (CLC) inventory 2012; mean annual land take 2006-12 as a % of 2006 artificial land.
broken down into built-up areas (buildings) and non 32 Eurostat, Soil water erosion rate , Figure 2, accessed November 2016 built-up areas (such as linear transport networks and 33 European Environment Agency, 2016. Imperviousness and
34 European Union, Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC
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determine GES 35 and establish environmental targets by
July 2012. By July 2014 they also had to establish monitoring programmes for the ongoing assessment of their marine waters. The next element of their marine strategy is to establish a Programme of Measures (2016).
The Commission assesses whether the elements in the programme of measures are sufficient to meet the requirements of the MSFD.
Polish waters are part of the Baltic Sea marine region and
Poland is a contracting party to the Convention on the
Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea
(HELCOM). In the Baltic Sea, the main risks to biodiversity are eutrophication, overfishing and bycatch, pollution by contaminants and oil and the introduction of nonindigenous
species. 36
Poland did not comply with the deadline of October 2012 for reporting on the initial assessment of its marine waters, the determination of its good environmental status and its environmental targets, nor did it comply with the deadline of October 2014 for reporting on its monitoring programme for marine waters. Poland only provided this information in November 2015.
These delays mean the Commission has not yet been able to assess Poland’s marine strategy. It will do so in the next assessment exercise (i.e. 2016-2017, assessment of other Member States’ programmes of measures).
The late submission of Poland’s reports also meant that
Commission did not formulate guidance for Poland like it did for other Member States in its reports on the
implementation of the MSFD. 37
35 The MSFD defines Good Environmental Status (GES) in Article 3 as:
‘The environmental status of marine waters where these provide ecologically diverse and dynamic oceans and seas which are clean, healthy and productive’.
36 European Environment Agency report on Baltic Sea .
37 Report from the Commission ‘The first phase of implementation of
the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) - The European Commission’s assessment and guidance’ COM(2014)097 and Report from the Commission assessing Member States' monitoring programmes under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (COM(2017)3 i).
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-
3.Ensuring citizens' health and quality of life
Air quality emission ceilings. 40 While total emissions of volatile
The EU Clean Air Policy and legislation requires that air organic compounds increased with 11%, this pollutant is within its currently applicable national emission ceiling.
quality in the Union is significantly improved, moving
closer to the WHO recommended levels. Air pollution At the same time, air quality in Poland continues to give and its impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity should be serious cause for concern. The European Environment further reduced with the long-term aim of not exceeding Agency estimated that in 2013 about 48 270 premature critical loads and levels. This requires strengthening deaths were attributable to fine particulate matter
efforts to reach full compliance with Union air quality concentrations, of which 1 150 to ozone concentration 41 legislation and defining strategic targets and actions and over 1 610 to nitrogen dioxide concentrations. 42 This
beyond 2020. is due also to Poland exceeding the EU’s air quality
The EU has developed a comprehensive body of air standards, as shown in Figure 9.
43
quality legislation 38 which establishes health-based In 2014, EU air quality standards for particulate matter
standards and objectives for a number of air pollutants. (PM10) 44 were breached in 42 zones and for
As part of this, Member States are also required to benzo[a]pyrene in all zones. 45 Often, these standards
ensure that up-to-date information on ambient were exceeded by a very large margin. Furthermore, 24
air quality zones have indicated excessive levels of fine
Figure 9: Attainment situation for PM10, NO 2 and O 3 in 2014
40
concentrations of different air pollutants is routinely The current national emission ceilings apply since 2010 ( Directive 2001/81/EC ); revised ceilings for 2020 and 2030 have been set by
made available to the public. In addition, the National Directive (EU) 2016/2284 on the reduction of national emissions of
Emission Ceilings Directive requires that emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 2003/35/EC i and
main pollutants be reduced at national level. repealing Directive 2001/81/EC i. 41
Low level ozone is produced by photochemical action on pollution
Emissions of several air pollutants have decreased in and it is also a greenhouse gas.
Poland. 39 Reductions between 1990 and 2014 for sulphur 42 European Environment Agency, 2016. Air Quality in Europe – 2016
oxides (-72 %), nitrogen oxides (-33 %) as well as Report. (Table 10.2, please see details in this report as regards the pinning methodology).
ammonia (-36 %) mean that air emissions for these 43 Based on European Environment Agency, 2016. Air Quality in Europe pollutants are within the currently applicable national – 2016 Report. (Figures 4.1, 6.1 and 7.1).
44 Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of aerosol particles (solid and
liquid) covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. PM10 (PM2.5) refers to particles with a diameter of 10 (2.5)
38 European Commission, 2016. Air Quality Standards. micrometres or less. PM is emitted from many anthropogenic
39 European Environment Agency, 2016. Air pollutant emissions data sources, including combustion. viewer (LRTAP Convention). 45 See EIONET The Air Quality Portal.
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particulate matter (PM2.5), for which the limit value only health, environment and economy. In particular,
became binding in 2015. Nitrogen dioxide (NO 46 2 ) limits facilitate and support actions at regional and local level
are also exceeded (in four agglomerations). The target that aim to improve air quality in the zones affected by values and long-term objectives regarding ozone poor air quality. concentrations were not met in several air quality zones • Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions to comply with in 2014, including three zones in which the related target currently applicable national emission ceilings[1] values were also exceeded. In addition, target values for and/or to reduce nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (and ozone annual mean concentrations of arsenic were exceeded in concentrations), inter alia, by reducing transport two air quality zones. related emissions - in particular in urban areas.
The European Commission is launching infringement • Reduce PM10 emission and concentration, inter alia, procedures covering all the Member States concerned, by reducing emissions related to energy and heat including Poland, to follow up persistent breaches of air generation using solid fuels, to transport and to quality requirements (for PM10 and NO agriculture. 2 ), which have severe negative effects on health and the environment. • Enhance legal instruments to improve the The aim is to put in place adequate measures to bring all implementation and enforcement of air quality
zones into compliance. standards, in particular by establishing emission standards for new solid-fuel boilers as well as quality
Moreover, Poland does not take sufficient measures to standards for solid fuels placed on the market, in order limit the exceedances of other substances. The main to effectively tackle low stack emissions of PM10 and source of PM10 and benzo[a]pyrene pollution is 'low benzo[a]pyrene. In addition, promote the use of stack emission' (heating of individual houses). NO 2 financial incentives to accelerate phasing out of exceedances are caused by the transport sector. substandard boilers.
In particular, it is striking that, given such a grave air
pollution problem, Poland is the only EU Member State Noise
with no standards for solid fuels sold on the market.
Additionally, Poland has no emission standards for new The Environmental Noise Directive provides for a boilers. The prevalence of sub-standard boilers combined common approach for the avoidance, prevention and with the availability of poor quality coal are major factors reduction of harmful effects due to exposure to impacting air quality in most zones in Poland. Without environmental noise.
appropriate, tailored measures to reduce the pollution Excessive noise is one of the main causes of health
coming from major contributing sectors, it is very unlikely
that the continuous and severe breaches of EU air quality issues.
48 To address this, the EU acquis sets out several
noise-reduction requirements, including: assessing the
standards will end. exposure to environmental noise through noise mapping;
It is estimated that the health-related external costs from ensuring that information on environmental noise and its air pollution in Poland are above EUR 26 –billion/year effects is made available to the public; and adopting (income adjusted, 2010), which include not only the action plans to prevent and reduce environmental noise intrinsic value of living a full healthy life but also the and preserve good acoustic environment quality.
direct costs to the economy. These direct economic costs
include the 19 million workdays lost each year due to Poland’s implementation of the Environmental Noise Directive 49 is significantly delayed. The noise mapping for
sickness related to air pollution, with associated costs for the most recent reporting round (2011) is mostly
employers of EUR 1 500 million/year (income adjusted,
2010); healthcare costs above EUR 88 million/year complete. However, action plans for noise management have been adopted for only 56 % of agglomerations and
(income adjusted, 2010); and costs to agriculture (crop 13 % of major roads. Action plans have been adopted for
losses) of EUR 272 million/year (2010). 47 major railways and the major airport in Warsaw.
Suggested action
[1] Under the revised National Emission Ceilings Directive Member
• Maintain downward emissions trends of air pollutants States may apply for emission inventory adjustments. Pending in order to achieve full compliance with air quality limit evaluation of any adjustment application, Member States should
values and reduce adverse air pollution impacts on keep emissions under close control with a view to further reductions. 48 WHO/JRC, 2011, Burden of disease from environmental noise ,
Fritschi, L., Brown, A.L., Kim, R., Schwela, D., Kephalopoulos, S. (eds), World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen,
46 NOx is emitted during fuel combustion e.g. from industrial facilities Denmark. and the road transport sector. NOx is a group of gases comprising 49 The Environmental Noise Directive requires Member States to
nitrogen monoxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ). prepare and publish, every five years, noise maps and noise
47 These figures are based on the Impact Assessment for the European management action plans for agglomerations with more than
Commission Integrated Clean Air Package (2013). 100 000 inhabitants, and for major roads, railways and airports.
Poland 17
Regarding the missing action plans, the Commission or high ecological status 51 (while the status of 83 % is
initiated bilateral contacts with Poland to clarify the unknown) and 3 % of heavily modified or artificial water
situation. bodies 52 achieve a good or high ecological potential (70 %
Suggested action unknown). Furthermore, good chemical status
53 is
achieved by only 3 % of surface water bodies (94 %
• Accelerate the completion of action plans for noise unknown), 6 % of heavily modified and artificial water management. bodies (89 % unknown) and 93 % of groundwater bodies.
Moreover, 82 % of groundwater bodies are in good
Water quality and management quantitative status.
54
The main pressure on Polish surface water bodies is flow
The EU water policy and legislation require that the regulation and morphological alterations that affect 52 % impact of pressures on transitional, coastal and fresh of water bodies. Point sources of pollution affect 33 % waters (including surface and ground waters) is and water abstraction 12 % of water bodies. Diffuse significantly reduced to achieve, maintain or enhance sources of pollution only affect 3 % of water bodies. This good status of water bodies, as defined by the Water pressure distribution is influenced by the two biggest Framework Directive; that citizens throughout the Union river basin districts of the rivers Vistula and Oder. In benefit from high standards for safe drinking and bathing other smaller districts on the border with neighbour water; and that the nutrient cycle (nitrogen and countries the distribution of pressures is significantly phosphorus) is managed in a more sustainable and different.
resource-efficient way.
The 2009 RBMPs have a number of deficiencies that
SDG 6 encourages countries to ensure availability and result in uncertainties about the status, pressures and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. effectiveness of the Programmes of Measures. In
The main overall objective of EU water policy and particular there are weaknesses in monitoring, the legislation is to ensure access to good quality water in methods for designating heavily modified bodies and the sufficient quantity for all Europeans. The EU water methods for assessing and classifying their status. As a acquis 50 seeks to ensure good status of all water bodies result, a very high proportion of water bodies has across Europe by addressing pollution sources (e.g. unknown status. A high number of exemptions were agriculture, urban areas and industrial activities), physical applied without transparent justification. Furthermore, and hydrological modifications to water bodies and the additional measures are needed to address the impact of management of risks of flooding. agriculture. New infrastructure for agriculture and for
hydropower needs to be fully assessed against
River Basin Management Plans (RBMPs) are a Article 4.7. 55
requirement of the Water Framework Directive and a
means of achieving the protection, improvement and These deficiencies caused the Commission to launch an sustainable use of the water environment across Europe. infringement procedure regarding implementation of the This includes surface freshwaters such as lakes and rivers, WFD. They had also implications for suspending EU groundwater, estuaries and coastal waters up to one funding for 2014-2020 of projects which entail nautical mile. hydromorphological modifications to water bodies and
fall under exemptions of Article 4(7) of the WFD until
Poland has provided information to the Commission from Poland demonstrates compliance with the WFD in the its second cycle of RBMPs. However, as the Commission second cycle of RBMPs due at the end of 2015. 56 The
has not yet been able to validate this information for all
Member States, it is not reported on here.
51 Good ecological status is defined in the WFD and refers to the quality
In the first cycle of RBMPs adopted in 2009, Poland of the biological community, the hydrological characteristics and the
reported the status of 4 586 rivers, 1 038 lakes, chemical characteristics.
9 transitional, 10 coastal and 161 groundwater bodies. 52 Many European river basins and waters have been altered by human
Only 3 % of natural surface water bodies achieve a good activities such as land drainage, flood protection, and building of dams to create reservoirs.
53 Good chemical status is defined in the WFD and refers to compliance
with all the quality standards established for chemical substances at European level.
50 This includes the Bathing Waters Directive (2006/7/EC); the Urban 54 For groundwater, a precautionary approach has been taken that
Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC) concerning comprises a prohibition on direct discharges to groundwater, and a discharges of municipal and some industrial waste waters; the requirement to monitor groundwater bodies.
Drinking Water Directive (98/83/EC) concerning potable water 55 For more information on the implementation status and more
quality; the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC) concerning specific recommendations, see the Water Framework Directive water resources management; the Nitrates Directive (91/676/EEC) Implementation Reports.
and the Floods Directive (2007/60/EC) 56 For more details, please refer to section 5 on the use of EU financial
Poland 18
Commission expects Poland to address these deficiencies achieving compliance with the Directive, reporting and in the second-cycle RBMPs. the use of EU funds to achieve compliance.
Almost all of the surface water flowing across Poland The final deadline for Poland to comply with the drains into the Baltic Sea, which is suffering from excess requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment levels of nutrients. Poland’s contribution to the overall Directive was 31 December 2015. Poland did not report
nitrogen load in the Baltic Sea is significant, 57 and a large on the implementation of the Urban Waste Water
part of it comes from agriculture. Treatment Directive in the last reporting exercise for the
A CJEU ruling (C-356/13) 58 highlighted that Poland is not reference year 2012, so the Commission was not able to complying with the Nitrates Directive. The Court held assess compliance with earlier transitional deadlines. The that the designation of nitrates vulnerable zones is not Commission is now following up on the issues of nonappropriate and does not take into account the criteria reporting and non-compliance.
set out in the Directive (e.g. the eutrophication of the Poland participates in the EU coordinated pilot project on
Baltic Sea). The Court also found that the action Structured Information and Implementation Framework programmes established by Poland are insufficient. (SIIF). From the unofficial data available under SIIF, it
As regards drinking water, Poland reaches very high appears that Poland had 1 567 agglomerations of more compliance rates of 100 % for the microbiological, than 2 000 population equivalent (p.e.) in 2013. These chemical and indicator parameters laid down in the agglomerations generated a total load of 42 574 501 p.e.,
Drinking Water Directive. 59 where 69 % of this load is connected to collecting systems.
Figure 10: Bathing water quality 2012-2015 60 At the Commission’s request, Poland prepared a master
plan for the implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive which prioritised investments in
agglomerations above 100 000 p.e. 62
Suggested action
• Address all gaps identified regarding the implementation of the Water Framework Directive in
the second cycle of the RBMPs, in particular by carrying out more detailed assessment of pressures, improving monitoring of the status of water bodies and designing effective Programmes of Measures that address all the main pressures identified.
• Ensure that exemptions granted fulfil all conditions for applying them and are supported by evidence, in particular regarding the assessment of significantly better environmental option.
• Align water management with the objectives of the As shown in Figure 10, in 2015, 60.9 % of Poland’s 197
bathing waters were of excellent quality, 21.8 % were of WFD in particular as regards the planning of good quality and 8.1 % were of sufficient quality. Two investments in navigation, flood defence and
bathing waters were of poor quality or non-compliant hydropower sectors. •
while it was not possible to assess the remaining 16 Increase efforts in implementation of infrastructure to bathing waters. 61 These figures are a slight improvement comply with the UWWTD as soon as possible and
on 2014. There are major issues regarding improve the national reporting system under the UWWTD.
implementation of the Urban Waste Water Treatment • Extend designation of nitrates vulnerable zones and
Directive in Poland. These centre around delays in reinforce measures in the action programmes.
instruments.
57 Website of Helcom Convention Enhancing the sustainability of cities
59 Commission’s Synthesis Report on the Quality of Drinking Water in The EU Policy on the urban environment encourages
the Union examining Member States’ reports for 2011-2013 in cities to implement policies for sustainable urban
accordance with Article 13(5 ) of Directive 98/83/EC i; COM(2016)666 i.
60 European Environment Agency, State of bathing water , 2016.
61 European Environment Agency, 2016. European bathing water quality 62 For more details please refer to section 5 on use of EU financial
Poland 19
planning and design, including innovative approaches for International agreements
urban public transport and mobility, sustainable
buildings, energy efficiency and urban biodiversity The EU Treaties require that the Union policy on the
conservation. environment promotes measures at international level to deal with regional or worldwide environmental problems.
SDG11 aims at making cities and human settlements
inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Most environmental problems have a transboundary
nature and often a global scope and they can only be
Europe is a Union of cities and towns; around 75 % of the addressed effectively through international co-operation.
EU population lives in urban areas. 63 The urban International environmental agreements concluded by
environment poses particular challenges for the the Union are binding upon the institutions of the Union environment and human health, while also providing and on its Member States. This requires the EU and the opportunities and efficiency gains in the use of resources. Member States to sign, ratify and effectively implement
all relevant multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) in a timely manner. This will also be an important contribution towards the achievement of the SDGs, which Member States committed to in 2015 and include many commitments contained already in legally binding agreements.
The fact that some Member States did not sign and/or ratify a number of MEAs compromises environmental implementation, including within the Union, as well as the Union’s credibility in related negotiations and international meetings where supporting the participation of third countries to such agreements is an established EU policy objective. In agreements where voting takes place it has a direct impact on the number of
The Member States, European institutions, cities and votes to be cast by the EU.
stakeholders have prepared a new Urban Agenda for the
EU (incorporating the Smart Cities initiative) to tackle Currently, Poland has signed but not yet ratified three agreements under the Convention on Long-range
these issues in a comprehensive way, including their Transboundary Air Pollution: the Gothenburg Protocol to
connections with social and economic challenges. At the
heart of this Urban Agenda will be the development of Abate Acidification, Eutrophication and Ground-level
twelve partnerships on the identified urban challenges, Ozone, the Persistent Organic Pollutions Protocol and the Heavy Metals Protocol. The same applies to the Nagoya
including air quality and housing 64 . Protocol. 66 It has neither signed nor ratified the African
The European Commission will launch a new EU Eurasian Migratory Waterbird Agreement. benchmark system in 2017 65 .
The EU stimulates green cities through awards and funding, such as the EU Green Capital Award aimed at cities with more than 100 000 inhabitants and the EU
Green Leaf initiative aimed at cities and towns, with between 20 000 and 100 000 inhabitants. Warsaw is among seven applicants for the 2018 EU Green Capital
Award.
63 European Environment Agency, Urban environment.
64 http://urbanagendaforthe.eu/
65 The Commission is developing an Urban Benchmarking and
Monitoring ('UBaM') tool to be launched in 2017. Best practices
emerge and these will be better disseminated via the app featuring 66 Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable
the UBaM tool, and increasingly via e.g. EUROCITIES, ICLEI, CEMR, Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Committee of the Regions, Covenant of Mayors and others. Biological Diversity.
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Part II: Enabling Framework: Implementation Tools
-
4.Market based instruments and investment
Green taxation and environmentally harmful an additional 0.75 % and 0.98 % of GDP in 2018 and 2030
subsidies respectively. The largest potential source of revenue could come from vehicle taxes by aligning them with
The Circular Economy Action Plan encourages the use of emission levels. This would also be beneficial for air financial incentives and economic instruments, such as quality and overall efficiency of the car fleet. Changes taxation to ensure that product prices better reflect could amount to PLN 9.4 billion in 2030 (EUR 2.24 billion) environmental costs. The phasing out of environmentally (real 2015 terms), equivalent to 0.31 % of GDP.
harmful subsidies is monitored in the context of the
European Semester and in national reform programmes submitted by Member States. Figure 11: Environmental tax revenues as a share of total
Taxing pollution and resource use can generate increased revenues from taxes and social contributions (excluding revenue and brings significant social and environmental imputed social contributions) in 2014
69
benefits.
In 2014, Poland's revenue from environmental taxes accounted for 2.51 % of GDP (against an EU average of
2.46 %). This is a significant increase from 2000, when they only made up 2.15 % of GDP. Energy taxes amounted to 2.13 % of GDP, much above the EU average of 1.88 %. Taxes on pollution and resources (all ringfenced for Poland’s national, regional and local environmental funds) raised the equivalent of 0.10% of
GDP, a sharp drop from 0.19 % the previous year, while taxes on transport (excluding transport fuels) accounted for 0.19 % of GDP. Car registration taxes are not based on emission levels but on engine capacity and on the car’s value, which generally equals the cost of acquisition/sale of the car. As shown in Figure 11, in 2014 environmental tax revenues accounted for 7.8 % (up from 7.5 %) of total revenues from taxes and social-security contributions
(EU-28 average: 6.35 %).
A 2016 study 67 suggests that there is considerable
potential for shifting from labour taxes to environmental
taxes in Poland. Under a good practice scenario 68 , the
amount could be as much as PLN 15.26 billion in 2018
(EUR 3.64 billion), rising to PLN 29.77 billion in 2030 (EUR
7.1 billion) (both in real 2015 terms). This is equivalent to
67 Eunomia Research and Consulting, IEEP, Aarhus University, ENT,
2016. Study on Assessing the Environmental Fiscal Reform Potential for the EU28 N.B. National governments are responsible for setting tax rates within the EU Single Market rules and this report is not suggesting concrete changes as to the level of environmental taxation. It merely presents the findings of the 2016 study by Eunomia et al on the potential benefits various environmental taxes could bring. It is then for the national authorities to assess this study and their concrete impacts in the national context. A first step in this respect, already done by a number of Member States, is to set up expert groups to assess these and make specific proposals.
68 The good practice scenario means benchmarking to a successful taxation practice in another Member State. 69 Eurostat, Environmental tax revenues , accessed October 2016
Poland 21
website of the PPO. 74
Green Public Procurement Investments: the contribution of EU funds
EU green public procurement policies encourage European Structural and Investment Funds Regulations
Member States to take further steps to reach the target provide that Member States promote environment and of applying green procurement criteria to at least 50 % of climate objectives in their funding strategies and public tenders. programmes for economic, social and territorial Green public procurement (GPP) is a process whereby cohesion, rural development and maritime policy, and public authorities seek to procure goods, services and reinforce the capacity of implementing bodies to deliver works that have a reduced environmental impact cost-effective and sustainable in these areas.
throughout their life cycle when compared to goods,
services and works with the same primary function that Making good use of the ESIF
75 is essential to achieve the
would otherwise be procured. environmental goals and integrate these into other policy areas. Other programmes and funds such as Horizon
The purchasing power of public procurement is 2020, the LIFE programme and the EFSI 76 may also
equivalent to approximately 14 % of GDP. 70 A substantial support implementation and the spread of best practice.
part of this money is spent on sectors with high
environmental impact such as construction or transport, Poland stands to be the biggest beneficiary of Cohesion so GPP can help significantly lower the impact of public Policy funds in the period 2014-2020, with the allocation spending and foster sustainable innovative businesses. of EUR 77 billion. In addition to significant investments in
The Commission has proposed EU GPP criteria 71 . climate change mitigation and adaptation, the planned spending for the specific environment-related categories
Poland has in place a national action plan on sustainable is 7.9 % (EUR 6.08 billion, see Figure 12). Out of this, the
procurement procedure for the period 2013-2016. 72 largest allocation of EUR 2.5 billion is intended for the
Green procurement procedure criteria have not been water and wastewater sector, followed by EUR 1.3 billion drawn up at national level. However, the Public for waste management, EUR 434 million for nature & Procurement Office (PPO) promotes their overall biodiversity and EUR 428 million for air quality measures.
voluntary application on the basis of EU GPP criteria. 73 The mentioned environmental priorities are supported under the national Operational Programme for
The current target is to reach 20 % of GPP by the end of Infrastructure & Environment and under 16 Regional
2016 (measured by the PPO as the inclusion of all Operational Programmes. It is too early to draw environmental aspects in contract award procedures). conclusions on the use and results of ESIF for the period Some additional targets include: 2014-2020, as the relevant programmes are still in an
-
-increasing awareness of GPP measured by the early stage of implementation.
number of newly trained procurement officials On waste management, the following results can be (600 beneficiaries of dedicated training and expected by the end of this budgetary period: conferences);
-
-increasing the number of entities that have a − support for 526 sorted municipal waste collection
verified environmental management system; points;
-
-increasing the number of EU Ecolabel certified − support for 85 waste management plants;
products and national eco-labels, Type I ISO − at least 3.4 million people offered sorted waste standards; collection;
-
-
-increasing by 20 % the number of users of the − at least 643.5 thousand tonnes per year of additional
section on ‘Green public procurement’ on the waste recycling capacity.
For wastewater management and water supply, the
70 European Commission, 2015. Public procurement
71 In the Communication “Public procurement for a better environment” 74 PwC, 2015. Final report. Strategic use of public procurement in
(COM /2008/400) the Commission recommended the creation of a promoting green, social and innovative policies process for setting common GPP criteria. The basic concept of GPP 75 ESIF comprises five funds – the European Regional Development relies on having clear, verifiable, justifiable and ambitious Funds (ERDF), the Cohesion Fund (CF), the European Social Fund environmental criteria for products and services, based on a life-cycle (ESF), the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development approach and scientific evidence base. (EAFRD), and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The
72 National Action Plan on Sustainable Procurement Procedure ERDF, the CF and the ESF together form the Cohesion Policy funds.
73 European Commission, 2015. Documentation on National GPP Action 76 European Investment Bank, 2016 European Fund for Strategic
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following results are expected to be achieved: infrastructure planning complies with the Water
− building of 10 583 km of sanitary sewage systems Framework Directive (WFD); and supporting at least 247 municipal waste water ii. adoption of second-cycle river basin plants; management plans that address the deficiencies
− connection of additional population to the in the first RBMPs and which are compliant with wastewater collecting system and improvement of the WFD.
wastewater treatment for existing users – in total Moreover, in addition to the ex ante conditionality
2 586 115 users. mentioned above, due to shortcomings with the
Current data suggest that the EU funds for the 2007-2013 implementation of the WFD, another special
period were almost fully spent. 77 conditionality clause was imposed for the EU co-financing
Figure 12: European Structural and Investment Funds of projects which trigger use of the Article 4(7)
2014-2020: Budget Poland by theme, EUR billion 78 exemption under the WFD. The EU co-financing of such projects is suspended until the Commission confirms the
compliance of the second RBMPs for the Vistula and the Oder with the WFD.
Despite significant amounts of EU funds being devoted to implementing the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive in 2000-2013 (approx. EUR 10 billion), the objective of full compliance is far from being reached. Therefore, for the 2014–2020 programming period, the Commission asked Poland to assess how far it had implemented the Directive and to prioritise specific agglomerations and investments in order to direct EU funding to the projects which bring the biggest contribution to narrowing the implementation gap.
Since 2010 Poland has in place a national network of managing and environmental authorities entitled 'Partnership: Environment for Development', co-funded by EU Cohesion Policy. The network brings together national and regional authorities and provides them with a platform for exchanging knowledge and building capacity on environmental matters related to the implementation of Cohesion Policy. The working groups established within the network address issues on implementing the EU environmental acquis which are causing particular difficulties in the preparation of project pipelines. The contributions from the working groups often supported the initiation of important legislative
The ex ante conditionalities under Thematic Objective 6 proposals such as the Anti-Smog Act in 2015 and the on water and waste have been partially fulfilled. national waste prevention programme.
Therefore relevant action plans for each sector have On the integration of environmental concerns into the been prepared. Most notably for the waste sector, common agricultural policy (CAP), the two key areas for national and 16 voivedeship waste management plans Poland are: are to be reviewed, in particular regarding legislative and
financial measures and on the infrastructure needed to i. using rural development funds to pay for implement the Waste Directives. For the ex ante environmental land management and other conditionality on water, Poland committed itself to two environmental measures, while avoiding
main actions: financing measures which could damage the environment;
-
i.amending the Water Act so that strategic ii. ensuring effective implementation of the first
pillar of the CAP on cross compliance and first
77 Final data for the period 2007-2013 will only be available at the end pillar 'greening'.
of 2017.
78 European Commission, European Structural and Investment Funds The approved national rural development programme
Data By Country (under the EAFRD) amounts overall to EUR 8.598 billion.
The allocation for the ecosystem priority (priority 4) is
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EUR 2.647 billion, which represents 30.8 % of the total budget. However only EUR 1.198 billion, representing
8.8 % of the total budget, is dedicated to agrienvironment/climate measures. The current budget will be insufficient to cover the increasing Polish environmental needs. A strong concern remains for the funds allocated to priority 4, as all funds dedicated to
Natural Constraint are counted as funds contributing for the environment, whereas in fact there will not be any environmental enhancement. This leads to an overestimation of the funds allocated to environmental protection. Improvements to the rural development programme are needed to target the areas identified under the programme of measures under the secondcycle River Basin Management Plans due at the end of
2015 and to reflect the priorities of the Prioritized Action
Framework for Natura 2000.
The direct payment envelope of Poland for the period
2015-2020 is EUR 17.067 billion, 30 % of which
(EUR 5.12 billion) is allocated to greening practices beneficial for the environment. An environmentally ambitious implementation of first pillar greening would clearly help to improve the environmental situation in areas not covered by rural development, including intensive area, and if appropriate Poland could review its implementation of this.
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-
5.Effective governance and knowledge
SDG 16 aims at providing access to justice and building process. effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all
levels. SDG 17 aims at better implementation, improving Capacity to implement rules
policy coordination and policy coherence, stimulating It is crucial that central, regional and local science, technology and innovation, establishing administrations have the necessary capacities and skills partnerships and developing measurements of progress. and training to carry out their own tasks and cooperate
Effective governance of EU environmental legislation and and coordinate effectively with each other, within a policies requires having an appropriate institutional system of multi-level governance.
framework, policy coherence and coordination, applying Poland uses regulatory instruments such as laws, orders, legal and non-legal instruments, engaging with nonetc. to address policy areas (including projects of public governmental stakeholders, and having adequate levels interest) issued by all level of government. However,
of knowledge and skills 79 . Successful implementation regulatory impact assessments are not used
depends, to a large extent, on central, regional and local systematically for all regulatory proposals or are government fulfilling key legislative and administrative completed late in the decision-making process, often tasks, notably adoption of sound implementing after the proposal has been prepared. Therefore Poland legislation, co-ordinated action to meet environmental could improve its decision-making process to make objectives and correct decision-making on matters such better use of regulatory impact assessment and to make as industrial permits. Beyond fulfilment of these tasks, better use of evidence in the choice of options in order to government must intervene to ensure day-to-day ensure that only the right solutions to address the compliance by economic operators, utilities and problem are selected.
individuals(" ("compliance assurance"). Civil society also has a role to play, including through legal action. To underpin the roles of all actors, it is crucial to collect and share knowledge and evidence on the state of the environment and on environmental pressures, drivers and impacts.
Equally, effective governance of EU environmental legislation and policies benefits from a dialogue within
Member States and between Member States and the
Commission on whether the current EU environmental legislation is fit for purpose. Legislation can only be properly implemented when it takes into account experiences at Member State level with putting EU commitments into effect. The Make it Work initiative, a
Member State driven project, established in 2014, Environmental policy developments in Poland are mainly organizes a discussion on how the clarity, coherence and driven by EU regulations and directives. An important structure of EU environmental legislation can be part of the implementation challenge is timely
improved without lowering existing protection standards. transposition of EU environmental law by national authorities into national legislation. Poland sometimes
Effective governance within central, regional transposes environmental directives belatedly and
and local government legislation is often incorrectly transposed. However, when instances of non-conformity occur, the country has
Those involved in implementing environmental cooperated and amended its legislation accordingly. legislation at Union, national, regional and local levels Most of the current transposition problems relate to the need to be equipped with the knowledge, tools and Water Protection Directives, but also to access to justice capacity to improve the delivery of benefits from that (e.g. on the possibility for the public concerned to ask a legislation, and the governance of the enforcement court to order interim measures, or on the failure to
provide for an effective review procedure before a court 79 The Commission has work ongoing to improve country-specific for certain projects falling under the scope of the EIA
knowledge of the quality and functioning of Member States’ Directive).
administrative systems.
Implementation remains, however, the real challenge, as
Poland 25
indicated by the fact that Poland is among the countries good example of the integration of environmental policy with the highest number of environmental infringements into the programming cycle of EU funds. Under the and complaints, mainly in the areas of water (e.g. steering of the General Directorate for Environmental implementation of the WFD), air pollution (e.g. Protection, the Regional Directorates for Environmental exceedances of PM 10 limit values) and nature protection. Protection cooperate on environmental matters with the
Coordination and integration managing authorities of operational programmes cofinanced from EU funds. 80
Poland does not have a sustainable development
strategy. The existing planning documents on the Impact assessments are important tools to ensure environment (such as the Air Protection Programme) are environmental integration in all government policies.
81
declarative and have a non-binding character. 16 Regional directors for environmental protection
The Minister of the Environment is responsible for supervised by the General Director for Environmental environmental and climate change policies, in particular Protection are responsible for nature protection and on air, waste, geology and geological concessions, water participate in development consent procedures for management, forest management and environmental projects which require environmental impact education. The Minister supervises the state forests, the assessments. In some cases, such as for motorways and General Inspectorate for Environmental Protection, the express roads, the regional director conducts the EIA General Director for Environmental Protection, the procedure and issues the environmental decision. For President of the Water Management Board and the others, the regional directors are consulted before
President of the State Nuclear Agency. granting the environmental decision and construction permits. Since their creation in 2008, the regional
The Minister of the Environment also has powers to directorates have significantly improved the quality of initiate legislative procedure: the Minister can adopt the EIA procedure, and Poland now has one of the most executive acts and submit proposals to Parliament, comprehensive procedures in the EU-28. Polish law including laws transposing EU directives. The Minister streamlines and integrates requirements under other also oversees the implementation of legislation, either environmental directives, in particular the Habitats and directly for areas within his/her portfolio or by Birds Directives, into one EIA procedure. The regional supervising the General Director for Environmental directorates have the necessary capacity to ensure high Protection and the President of the Water Management quality in the integrated EIA procedures.
Board. The Commission has issued a guidance document in
Environmental competences are often shared between 2016 82 on the setting up of coordinated and/or joint
different levels of Poland’s territorial administration (i.e. procedures that are simultaneously subject to voivedeship, poviat and municipalities). assessments under the EIA Directive, Habitats Directive,
Some weaknesses have been observed over the Water Framework Directive and the Industrial Emissions management of water bodies. Control over water uses Directive.
and activities which may affect the status of water bodies Suggested action
is dispersed among authorities at central, regional, poviat
and municipal level without sufficient coordination. • Use EU Funds to build necessary capacities and know
Moreover, the Regional Water Management Boards have how at all levels of administration involved in conflicting roles as both investors in projects and as implementation and enforcement. authorities responsible for protecting water: this • Strengthen governance of EU environmental legislation situation seems to undermine the effective and policies, in particular in nature conservation and implementation of certain provisions of the Water water management (e.g. adapt the structure and tasks
Framework Directive. of the water authorities to better perform the tasks related to the implementation of the Water
Similarly, the objective of biodiversity conservation
should be fully integrated with the responsibilities on 80
State Forests set out in the Act on Forests. More than For more information please see section 5 on the use of EU financial instruments
half of the area designated as Natura 2000 sites in Poland 81 Article 11 of the TFEU provides that ‘Environmental protection
is state-owned forest. This requires transparent and requirements must be integrated into the definition and
participative forest governance that can accommodate implementation of the Union's policies and activities, in particular
specific conservation requirements for each Natura 2000 with a view to promoting sustainable development.’ 82 European Commission, 2016. Commission notice — Commission
site, which may consist in minimising human intervention guidance document on streamlining environmental assessments
and facilitating natural processes. conducted under Article 2(3) of the Environmental Impact
Assessment Directive (D irective 2011/92/EU of the European
The 'Partnership: Environment for Development' national Parliament and of the Council, as amended by Directive 2014/52 i/EU). network of managing and environmental authorities is a
Poland 26
Framework Directive and involve them in the of compliance monitoring, promotion and enforcement is
permitting process). directed at the most serious problems. Best practice also
• Improve enforcement in case of failures to implement recognises the need for coordination and cooperation
mitigation and compensatory measures imposed on between different authorities to ensure consistency, project developers in environmental decisions and avoid duplication of work and reduce administrative construction permits. burden. Active participation in established Pan-European networks of inspectors, police, prosecutors and judges,
Compliance assurance such as IMPEL
84 , EUFJE 85 , ENPE 86 and EnviCrimeNet 87 , is a
valuable tool for sharing experience and good practices.
EU law generally and specific provisions on inspections, Currently, there exist a number of sectoral obligations on other checks, penalties and environmental liability help inspections and the EU directive on environmental lay the basis for the systems Member States need to liability (ELD) 88 provides a means of ensuring that the have in place to secure compliance with EU "polluter-pays principle" is applied when there are environmental rules. accidents and incidents that harm the environment. Public authorities help ensure accountability of duty There is also publically available information giving holders by monitoring and promoting compliance and by insights into existing strengths and weaknesses in each taking credible follow-up action (i.e. enforcement) when Member State. breaches occur or liabilities arise. Compliance monitoring For each Member State, the following were therefore can be done both on the initiative of authorities reviewed: use of risk-based compliance assurance; themselves and in response to citizen complaints. It can coordination and co-operation between authorities and involve using various kinds of checks, including participation in pan-European networks; and key aspects inspections for permitted activities, surveillance for of implementation of the ELD based on the Commission's possible illegal activities, investigations for crimes and recently published implementation report and REFIT audits for systemic weaknesses. Similarly, there is a range evaluation 89 .
of means to promote compliance, including awarenessraising
campaigns and use of guidance documents and Over the last decade, Poland has made significant efforts online information tools. Follow-up to breaches and to improve the effectiveness of environmental liabilities can include administrative action (e.g. inspections. Depending on the types of risks to be withdrawal of a permit), use of criminal law 83 and action addressed, different kinds of inspection are foreseen, in under liability law (e.g. required remediation after particular comprehensive inspections (audit) and damage from an accident using liability rules) and campaign-, problem- and investment- related contractual law (e.g. measures to require compliance inspections. In addition, different types of checklists are with nature conservation contracts). Taken together, all being used to support inspection processes.
90 As Chapter
of these interventions represent "compliance assurance" 1 shows, Poland’s Supreme Audit Office has played a as shown in Figure 13. valuable role in analysing systemic compliance problems.
Poland has established bilateral cooperation with the
Figure 13: Environmental compliance assurance Norwegian Government, which has led to introduction of
a new set of procedures on planning, performance,
documentation and follow-up to inspections 91 and
greater use of electronic tools to improve the efficiency of inspection work. While a risk-based approach to organising industrial installations is now in place, there is
84 European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of
85 European Union Forum of judges for the environment 86 The European Network of Prosecutors for the Environment
87
European Union, Environmental Crime Directive 2008/99/EC
88
European Union, Environmental Liability Directive 2004/35/CE
89 COM(2016)204 final and COM(2016)121 final of 14.4.2016. This
highlighted the need for: - better evidence on how the Directive is used in practice;
Best practice has moved towards a risk-based approach - tools to support its implementation, such as guidance, training and ELD registers;
at strategic and operational levels in which the best mix - financial security to be available in case events or incidents
generate remediation costs.
90
For details see IMPEL IRI Poland, p. 35-37.
83 European Union, Environmental Crime Directive 2008/99/EC 91 Detailed information about the relevant projects is available here .
Poland 27
room for further refinement and improvement 92 .
Annual activities reports of individual inspection authorities are published online. Some performance
monitoring is undertaken, using some basic input and Public participation and access to justice
output indicators, but outcome indicators are not in use,
which hampers the assessment of the effectiveness of The Aarhus Convention, related EU legislation on public
inspection work. participation and environmental impact assessment, and the case-law of the Court of Justice require that citizens
Although the added value of cooperation and and their associations should be able to participate in coordination between Polish authorities with relevant decision-making on projects and plans and should enjoy functions is recognized, there are no structured effective environmental access to justice.
mechanisms established and exchange of personnel and
joint inspections are rare 93. Poland is active within the Citizens can more effectively protect the environment if
EUFJE 94 and some of the IMPEL Expert Teams 95 . they can rely on the three "pillars" of the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision
Up-to-date information would be valuable in relation to making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters the following: ("the Aarhus Convention"). Public participation in the
− data-collection arrangements to track the use and administrative decision making process is an important element to ensure that the authority takes its decision on
effectiveness of different compliance assurance
interventions; the best possible basis. The Commission intends to
− the extent to which risk-based methods are used to examine compliance with mandatory public participation requirements more systematically at a later stage.
direct compliance assurance at the strategic level
and in relation to specific problem-areas highlighted Access to justice in environmental matters is a set of
elsewhere in this Country Report, i.e. illegal waste guarantees that allows citizens and their associations to
disposal, the threats to protected habitat types and challenge acts or omissions of the public administration
species, air quality breaches, the pressures on water before a court. It is a tool for decentralised
quality from diffuse pollution and the serious deficit implementation of EU environmental law.
in urban wastewater treatment infrastructure. For each Member State, two crucial elements for
Poland makes impressive use of the Environmental effective access to justice have been systematically
Liability Directive to address environmental incidents, reviewed: the legal standing for the public, including
recording 506 cases between 2007 and 2013. As regards NGOs and the extent to which prohibitive costs represent
financial security (to cover remediation costs where a barrier.
operators cannot), evidence indicates that there is an
active engagement of the insurance sector in the Poland has a well-established system of access to justice implementation of the Directive. in administrative matters. However, the system of
administrative appeal and judicial review in the
Suggested action environmental area is not based on a clear set of rules
• Improve transparency on the organisation and that ensures legal certainty for all potential litigants. functioning of compliance assurance and on how Furthermore, in a number of substantive laws the significant risks are addressed, as outlined above. possibility to challenge individual decisions generally
• Step up efforts in the implementation of the granted to persons having legal interests is limited in
Environmental Liability Directive (ELD) with proactive relation to environmentally important decisions. The initiatives, in particular by drafting national guidance. It members of the public concerned are not parties to should moreover take further steps to ensure an certain administrative procedures, including water effective system of financial security for environmental permit and building permit procedures. As a result, in liabilities (so that operators not only have insurance those cases they cannot ask the national courts to order
cover available to them but actually take it up). interim measures. Also there is no effective review procedure for what are called 'special acts' in Poland,
which apply for example to road investment projects, airport projects or rail transport projects. Polish law also
92 IMPEL IRI Poland, p. 28-31. The current system is insufficiently flexible
to allow differentiation within activity types and the risk criteria are does not provide the possibility to challenge some
not always aligned with environmental objectives to be achieved and administrative decisions which may have a negative
do not cover all relevant environmental policy subject areas. impact on nature protection (e.g. the forest management
93 IMPEL IRI Poland, p. 40 and 49. plan). These issues are the subject of a pending
94 Poland hosted the 2011 EUFJE Annual Conference
95 In particular the 'Industry and Air' and the 'Waste and TFS' expert infringement procedure.
teams. Poland hosted in 2013 an IMPEL IRI project. The public is also not granted the legal standing to
Poland 28
challenge plans and programmes based on EU environmental data (based on what the INSPIRE Directive
environmental law. 96 envisages) as well as data-sharing policies ('open data')
Suggested action have been systematically reviewed.
101
• Take the necessary measures to ensure standing of Poland's performance on the implementation of the environmental NGOs to challenge acts or omissions of INSPIRE Directive as enabling framework to actively a public authority in all sectoral EU environmental laws, disseminate environmental information to the public is in full compliance with EU law as well as the good, but leaves room for improvement.
Convention on Access to Information, Public Poland has indicated in the 3-yearly INSPIRE
Participation in Decision-making and Access to Justice implementation report 102 that the necessary data-sharing
in environmental matters (Aarhus Convention). policies allowing access and use of spatial data by
national administrations, other Member States'
Access to information, knowledge and administrations and EU institutions without procedural obstacles are available and implemented. Poland has no
evidence common licensing model for data sharing and is not
The Aarhus Convention and related EU legislation on planning to introduce such a model. Existing regulations access to information and the sharing of spatial data define who are entitled to receive data free of charge require that the public has access to clear information on and to what extent. Poland does not foresee to collect the environment, including on how Union environmental fees for access to INSPIRE spatial data sets via discovery law is being implemented. and view services.
It is of crucial importance to public authorities, the public Assessments of monitoring reports
103
issued by Poland
and business that environmental information is shared in and the spatial information that Poland has published on an efficient and effective way. This covers reporting by the INSPIRE geoportal
104 indicate that not all spatial
businesses and public authorities and active information needed for the evaluation and dissemination to the public, increasingly through implementation of EU environmental law has been made
electronic means. available or is accessible. While it is true that the larger part of this missing spatial information is the
The Aarhus Convention 97 , the Access to Environmental environmental data required to be made available under
Information Directive 98 and the INSPIRE Directive 99 the existing reporting and monitoring regulations of EU
together create a legal foundation for the sharing of environmental law, Poland has taken steps to centralise environmental information between public authorities information about the data (metadata) using the national and with the public. They also represent the green part of geoportal (geoportal.gov.pl) and reforming the public
the ongoing EU e-Government Action Plan 100 . The first environmental data policy, aiming for a higher level of
two instruments create obligations to provide transparency. information to the public, both on request and actively.
The INSPIRE Directive is a pioneering instrument for Suggested action
electronic data-sharing between public authorities who • Identify and document all spatial data sets required for can vary in their data-sharing policies, e.g. on whether the implementation of environmental law, and make access to data is for free. The INSPIRE Directive sets up a the data and documentation at least accessible 'as is' geoportal which indicates the level of shared spatial data to other public authorities and the public through the in each Member State – i.e. data related to specific digital services foreseen in the INSPIRE Directive.
locations, such as air quality monitoring data. Amongst other benefits it facilitates the public authorities' reporting obligations.
For each Member State, the accessibility of
96 Study on access to justice in environmental matters 2012/2013
97 UNECE, 1998. Convention on Access to Information, Public
Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters
98 European Union, Directive 2003/4/EC on public access to 101 At the Commission’s request, most Member States provided an
environmental information INSPIRE Action Plan addressing implementation issues. These plans
99 European Union, INSPIRE Directive 2007/2/EC are currently being assessed by the Commission.
100 European Union, EU eGovernment Action Plan 2016-2020 - 102 European Commission, INSPIRE reports
Accelerating the digital transformation of government COM(2016) 103 Inspire indicator trends 179 final. 104 Inspire Resources Summary Report