Grants and Funding for the Processes of Decarbonization in the Scope of Sustainability Development—The Case from Poland

Abstract

The study aimed to determine how the public perceives the directions of decarbonization to develop a sustainable energy strategy for Poland. The political challenge is to use dedicated funds and grants to move from the energy market to low-carbon technology. For sustainable development, governments must implement an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and socially acceptable policy. The risk of social acceptance plays a vital role in Poland, especially in Silesia, influencing the decarbonization process. The study’s main objective was to identify socio-economic features that affect the assessment of the decarbonization process in Poland, assuming that respondents used central or local funds to carry out this process. The authors deepened the multidisciplinary aspect of the analysis of decarbonization, mainly pointing to social issues, which was presented in the article. The study was conducted using the “snowball” method on a group of 444 socially diverse people. They were based on non-parametric statistical methods: Chi-square, Mann–Whitney U, and the Kruskal–Wallis test, which showed that the most effective factors in the decarbonization process are subsidies used by local governments. Moreover, it was found that people with higher education give less support to the centralization of funds for decarbonization, though they perceive that local funds provide a greater chance of success for decarbonization processes. This study fills the gap in social sciences.