Abstract
The main objective of the article is to evaluate the investment activity of large cities in Poland in the area of developing a low-carbon economy in 2014–2020, co-financed by European Union funds. This article poses several research questions, namely: Do large cities with environmental problems actively obtain EU funding to develop a low-carbon economy? What are the main socio-economic and environmental determinants of the level of the EU funding absorption among large cities in the research area? The empirical research was conducted on the basis of the data from the Ministry of Investment and Economic Development in Poland, which is responsible for the implementation of cohesion policy funds and from the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland. Under the 2014–2020 perspective, 223 such projects have been implemented for a total of PLN 21 billion (EUR 4.74 billion). The projects focused on: transportation, electricity, gaseous fuels, steam, hot water and air for air conditioning systems, and environmental and climate change activities. In terms of both the number and the value of EU funds spent, great variation has been observed. Analysis of the correlation relationships showed a highly positive correlation between selected indicators of investment activity in the field of low-carbon economy co-financed by EU funds (especially taking into account the value of investments per area) and socio-economic indicators of Polish metropolises. Metropolises with high demographic, economic, and financial potential have proven to be more effective beneficiaries. Interestingly, no correlation was found between investment activity in the low-carbon economy and the level of environment pollution in large cities. This means that, unfortunately, pro-environmental activities depend on the state of finances of the cities, and not necessarily on the actual needs, even taking into account the fact that the EU covers a large proportion of the costs.
Highlights
Interest in the problems of urban area development, including the so-called, smart cities, have been growing for several years [1,2,3,4]
Based on 191 publications [4], the following four major challenges for city research have been outlined: fragment analysis, a bigger focus on the benefits of smart cities and smaller on the drawbacks, the need to build new theories of smart city research, and the lack of empirical testing of the conceptual frameworks developed in smart city research
About 60% of the Polish population live in urban areas, whereas nearly 20% of them live in metropolises [6,7]
Summary
Interest in the problems of urban area development, including the so-called, smart cities, have been growing for several years [1,2,3,4]. About 60% of the Polish population live in urban areas, whereas nearly 20% of them live in metropolises [6,7] This means that various kinds of environmental problems related to water, energy, waste or wastewater management accumulate in cities. Large cities, including those classified as metropolises (in Poland these are: Białystok, Bydgoszcz, Gdansk, Katowice, Kraków, Lublin, Łódz, Poznan , Rzeszów, Szczecin, Warsaw and Wrocław), are the main centers of economic activity and are characterized by intense traffic. It set a goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2025 It proves that cities/metropolises notice the problem of greenhouse gas emissions and try to introduce appropriate solutions [75]. The Sino-Singapore Tianjin Eco-city (SSTEC) and Shenzhen International Low-Carbon City (ILCC) are considered low-carbon cities [76]
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