World Bank and the Malopolska Region jointly work against smog

The Malopolska Region is not alone in the fight for clean air in the region. Once again, the efforts of our region have been recognized internationally. Following the LIFE project, the Malopolska Region has now become a partner of the World Bank and the European Commission in the implementation of the “Catching-up Regions” project which aims at helping to eliminate smog.

Within the project, the Malopolska Region has been already visited by the World Bank experts: Ashok Sarkar and Anand Subbiah. In order to better understand the problem of smog, they visited several municipalities in the region: Wadowice, Jordanów and Maków Podhalański. They also talked with the representatives of the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management in Krakow. This week, experts will be going to the Silesian Region. Currently, the World Bank representatives will be carrying out an analysis of legal requirements and whether the Malopolska Region will be able to introduce additional tools that will enable the modernization of single-family houses.  They will also estimate the need for additional support, taking into account the demographics, conditions of the region and the characteristics of individual buildings.

The solutions developed in the Malopolska Region to improve the energy efficiency of buildings will also, in the future, be available to other regions in Poland.

The “Catching-up Regions” program (formerly, Lagging Regions) is targeted at the less developed regions of the EU. It is a research and advisory program. So far, two regions have participated in the project: Świętokrzyskie and Podkarpackie. In their case, the main axis of cooperation was economic development and business support. Now the project has been joined by the Silesian and Malopolska Regions – regions that face the problem of polluted air and take the furthest action in the fight against smog.