Poland’s unemployment rate stood at 8.1% in May, the same as a month earlier and less than 1% more y-o-y.

“We have already secured over PLN5 billion for the partial funding of investment in renewable energy sources in the coming five years. It will enable us to carry out projects worth some PLN15 billion. It will be a large and attractive market,” says Prof. Maciej Nowicki, Polish Minister of the Environment.

Poland used to be one of Europe’s most heavily polluted countries. As much as 30% of its population lived in ecologically threatened areas, where pollution norms were exceeded many times over. 20% of the population lived in areas affected by acid smog in the winter.

At the NEUF 2009 panel in Warsaw Karl Falkenberg, Director General of DG Environment at the European Commission discussed the implications of the climate package for European industry.

Next to Spain Poland is the second largest beneficiary of the EU Cohesion Fund that finances up to 85 % of eligible expenditure of major projects involving the environment and transport infrastructure. Funds granted to Poland as the pre-accession ISPA Fund and Cohesion Fund for 2000-2006 were fully used.

According to Andrzej Kassenberg, president of the Institute for Sustainable Development, a programme drafted by the Warsaw University of Technology and based on energy efficiency and a substantial participation of regional energy generating plants will ensure Poland implementation of its social, economic and ecological goals to the maximum extent.

“The energy intensity of GDP has decreased in Poland by 30% in the past 10 years. But - calculated at constant prices, not corrected for purchasing power – energy intensity is still six times higher in Poland than in Switzerland, 4.9 times higher than in Denmark, 4.1 times higher than in Ireland, 3.7 times higher than in Germany, 2.8 times higher than the EU-27 average and 3.2 times higher than the EU-15 average,” says Ryszard Wnuk, PhD, Director of Poland-Japan Energy Conservation Technology Centre Project (ECTC) and coordinator of the intergovernmental Energy Efficiency project.

Restrictions in CO2 emission rights and the implementation of the EC’s 3x20 programme are a big challenge for Poland’s economy. Also dramatically mounting are problems with waste management and processing, where years of negligence have put Poland in the EU tail.

The Polish Women's Congress took place in Warsaw on June 20-21. The event was held under the slogan "Women for Poland. Poland for Women". The event was organized with the involvement of top women from Polish public life: economics, politics, business, art and science.