Polish Funds

Public funds for environmental protection in Poland include, in particular:

National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFŚiGW) and the Voivodeship Funds for Environmental Protection and Water Management

The aim of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (NFŚiGW) is the financial support of the environmental investment of national scale and supra-regional importance and local projects relevant to the needs of the environment.

NFŚiGW manages financial resources in the form of loans, grants and investments. It supports the following areas:

• Air protection,
• Water protection and water management,
• Earth's surface protection,
• Nature and landscape and forestry protection,
• Geology and mining,
• Environmental education,
• State Environmental Monitoring,
• Inter-disciplinary programmes,
• Extraordinary Environmental Hazards,
• Expertise and research work.

The applicants applying for funds may be local government units, enterprises, institutions and offices, universities and colleges, environmental entities, NGOs, government administrations and individuals. More detailed information on this topic can be found on the website of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management.

EcoFund

EcoFund is a foundation that was established in 1992 by the Minister of Finance for the effective management of funds derived from the conversion of foreign debt to support projects in environmental protection (so-called debt ecoconversion).

Five sectors were considered as priority areas for support under the Statute of EcoFund. These are:

• Reduction of trans-boundary transport of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides and elimination of low-emission sources - air protection [PL],
• Reduction of the flow of pollutants into the Baltic Sea and protection of drinking water resources - water protection [PL],
• Reduction of greenhouse gas causing Earth climate change - climate protection [PL],
• Protection of biodiversity - nature protection [PL],
• Rationalisation of waste management and reclamation of contaminated soils - waste management [PL].

EcoFund measures are non-returnable foreign aid.

EcoFund does not finance projects that have received or are seeking grants from the Cohesion Fund, the Integrated Regional Operational Programme of the European Union or European Economic Area Funds.

Further details on this can be found at the website of EcoFund.