The Green Deal – Activity and expectations of Polish large and medium-sized road freight carriers in relation to potential regulatory solutions

Abstract

Sustainable development and the reduction of air pollution are the most important goals of green policy nowadays. The EU has established and recommends introducing Green Deal regulations into the legislation of members. These environmental law regulations concern various sectors of the economy. Road transport is among the most important sectors because it has a negative impact on the environment. Polish road cargo transport enterprises predominate in terms of the number of trucks on the EU transport market, so the reduction of exhaust emissions will help to improve air quality and the carbon neutrality of the European economy. Therefore, it is necessary to introduce effective incentives in this area, so that the goals of the Green Deal are accepted and implemented by the Polish road carriers. In the article, the environmental protection policy of Polish large and medium-sized road transport enterprises is spotlighted. As the goal of the research and the article, the authors established that it is possible to define the set of the most important of the factors anticipated by enterprises that should be taken into consideration in the process of regulating this sector in Poland to make the process more efficient. ResultsAs shown by the presented research results, individual companies have specific expectations concerning incentives offered by the regulator, which, if provided, could contribute to more pro-ecological behaviour. Implementation of instruments supporting enforcement of a given standard and meeting the expectations of companies in this respect provides systemic benefits for the state and the environment and thus for the entire society as well as for the services providers, meaning the transportation companies. This in turn improves environmental parameters by reducing the level of its degradation through transport companies' pro-ecological activities, which translates directly into real environmental and economic benefits. It is therefore reasonable that in the implementation of the tasks resulting from the European Green Deal (henceforth simply referred to as Green Deal), individual Member States and the European Union as a whole took into account the views and opinions of individual entrepreneurs in terms of further pro-ecological activities. This will contribute to more effective and efficient regulation and a shortening of the time needed to reduce the environmental impact of road transport.