Summary of LIFE Małopolska – March 2022

Main events

• On 31 March, an interim report on the Air Protection Programme for the Małopolska Region for 2021 was submitted to the Minister of Climate and Environment. It shows that in 2021 in Małopolska inefficient sources of heat from solid fuels were eliminated in a total of 13,581 buildings/locations, which is about 30% more than in 2020.
• In March, the modernization of the Eco-Intervention application was completed, in which a number of changes were made, e.g. reporting statistics for each municipality were made available, a new infringement category “sewage” was added, and the limit of adding reports was increased to 3 within 24 hours from each category. In March, 949 reports were received through the application.
• On the 3rd of March the webinar “LIFE Program for self-governments” took place, during which, among others, the assumptions of integrated projects realized in the Małopolska province were presented.
• On March 20-26, students from the 20th L. Staff High School in Krakow went to Italy to promote the LIFE program in Małopolska as part of the Erasmus+ “Boockpackers around Europe” youth exchange program.
• Eco-managers distributed over 50 thousand information and educational materials and gave over 13 thousand pieces of advice to inhabitants of Małopolska.

C.1.Eco-managers

In March, the Eco-managers employed under the LIFE program provided consulting assistance to the residents of Malopolska in the amount of:

• 5,666 people admitted to the office,
• 6,836 by phone,
• 314 written or emailed,
• 879 during visits,

707 inspections were carried out at residents regarding waste incineration. In 24 cases, violations were found.

Surveys from residents and grant applications

Eco-managers were involved in collecting applications from residents for funding. March 2022:

• 964 applications were collected from inhabitants interested in subsidies for heat source replacement.

The eco-managers entered or updated data on 16,141 properties in the Central Energy Efficiency and Building Heating Records (CEEB).

C.2.Competence Centre

List of low-emission heating appliances

The list of low-emission, ecodesign-compliant solid fuel heating equipment, available at www.powietrze.malopolska.pl, includes a total of 383 boilers and space heaters.

,,Eco-intervention” application

In March, 949 applications were accepted. The application is available at https://ekomalopolska.pl/app/ekointerwencja/index.html.

It can be specified:

• 702 air pollution reports,
• 150 illegal waste disposal,
• 75 were related to sewage and wastewater discharges,

The Competence Centre responded to more than 350 e-mails and 400 phone calls to UMWM.

Meetings with an expert

National Energy Conservation Agency in the framework of the online training “Meeting the expert” in March organized two events attended by eco-advisors:

• 09.03. – Meeting with KAPE expert – Energy efficient lighting of buildings and public places,
• 23.03. – Meeting with KAPE expert – Counteracting energy poverty in municipalities,

Communication Workshop for LIFE Integrated Projects

On 9th March the representatives of the Centre of Competence took part in the webinar Communication Workshop for LIFE integrated projects. During the meeting, experiences in implementation of LIFE projects from different countries were exchanged.

D1. Monitoring the effects of the implementation of the Air Protection Programme for Małopolskie Province (MPOP)

• On March 31, a summary report on the Air Protection Program for the Małopolska Province for 2021 was submitted to the Minister of Climate and Environment in accordance with the statutory deadline.
• In 2021, inefficient solid fuel heat sources were eliminated in a total of 13 581 buildings/locations in the Małopolska region. Municipalities implementing LIFE project continue to be more effective in replacing inefficient heat sources (6 397 replacements – 62 municipalities; average of 103 per municipality) than others (7 184 replacements – 120 municipalities; average of 60 per municipality).
• In addition to replacing boilers, the activities also included: information campaigns among the public and conducting inspections of waste burning and compliance with the provisions of the anti-smog resolution. In 2021 a total of 26.7 thousand inspections were carried out, during which 516 cases of non-compliance with the provisions of the resolution and 1070 cases of waste incineration were found. By the end of the year 2021 in the Małopolska province 180 municipalities have signed agreements with the WFOŚiGW in Kraków on establishing service points for the Clean Air Programme. What is more, in 2021 in the Małopolska province 19 973 applications were submitted within the subsidy programme for heat exchange.

E.2 Local information and education activities on air protection

Educational materials on air protection

Eco-managers in municipalities:

• distributed 42,659 flyers and brochures and 431 posters,
• prepared and distributed 7,873 other educational and promotional materials (promotional materials, leaflets related to the Clean Air Program, board games and school materials for children)

Meetings & Events

Eco-managers have organized meetings and events:

• 5 competitions for children and youth, with 95 participants,
• 7 meetings in schools and preschools with 345 participants,
• 49 meetings with residents, attended by 796 people,
• 27 meetings with local leaders, totaling 153 people.
• 6 other air protection events attended by 914 people.

Use of media

Eco-managers in the municipalities have prepared:

• 17 articles in the press,
• 156 online and social media articles and posts,
• 15 times other media were used

and participated in media releases related to the project:

• 2 radio or TV broadcasts.

E3. Networking with other projects

Webinar “LIFE Program for Local Governments”

The webinar “The LIFE Program for Local Governments” took place on the 3rd of March. The speaker during the event was Deputy Director of the Department of Environment Mr. Tomasz Pietrusiak. The event was organized by the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management and the Association of Polish Cities and addressed to representatives of local government units.

We share our knowledge and experience!

On March 10th a meeting with representatives of the Marshal’s Office of Pomorskie Voivodeship took place. The activities of the Marshal’s Office aiming at the improvement of the air quality were presented. The topics concerning, among others, the application for the participation in the international LIFE project were discussed.

LIFE Project in Italy!

On March 20-26, students from XX L. Staff High School in Cracow went to Italy as part of Erasmus+ “Boockpackers around Europe” youth exchange program. Together with partners from other schools (Spain, Turkey, Portugal), the students had an opportunity to present the main principles of the LIFE project and gave educational materials about the project in English to their peers.