Climate change adaptation plans in Polish cities – comparative analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT The research goal of this article is to examine climate change strategies in selected Polish cites. These cities include Warsaw, Kraków and Poznań. The paper covers a broader context, namely the significance of cities for fighting climate change and the attitude of Polish central authorities to the issue of climate change. It also demonstrates the importance of urban planning in climate change issues. Against this background concrete cities and their climate change adaptation policies are examined and compared to the national strategical adaptation plan to climate change. The research questions are: how do Polish cities deal with the climate change? What actions do they undertake? What kind of documents at the local level are relevant? The major conclusions are that Polish central government only declaratively meets its commitments, while cites, including Polish cities, are taking real actions and in this way, they bypass States by complementing or replacing their actions. Cities form their own climate change adaptation policies and implement them.