ALBERT

Description: The article examines the relationship between CO2 equivalent emissions and agricultural production, taking into account additional economic and social variables that correct the considered relationship for the six Central and Eastern European countries over the period 1992–2017. The aim of the article was to confirm or negate the occurrence of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Countries that experienced a political transformation and were subsequently admitted to the European Union (EU) undergoing a preparatory period were included. The topic is timely as all EU countries are required to monitor their emissions under the EU Climate Monitoring Mechanism. The discussed problem is significant due to the changes taking place in the common agricultural policy, the choice of actions to be taken by individual countries in their national policies, and the choice of instruments to support the transformation of agriculture. Agriculture has a particularly large impact on emissions, especially N2O and CH4. This paper uses GLS (Generalized least squares) panel regression with random effects taking into consideration individual effects for countries. The conducted empirical research confirmed the hypothesis regarding the occurrence of the Kuznets curve in relation to agricultural production. In this situation, it is required to increase the activities of maintaining production growth, with the support of technological changes that significantly increase pro-environmental conditions, because, in the current circumstances, this growth takes place with an increase in CO2 gas emissions, thus leading to negative external effects.

Description: Many authors emphasize that reducing the income deprivation of the agricultural sector in relation to the non-agricultural sectors is a prerequisite to the growth of sustainability of agriculture. Thus, this raises the question: despite the impact of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the value of agricultural income in EU countries, is there still income deprivation for agriculture in relation to non-agricultural sectors? If so, is its depth comparable among farms with a different scale of production from the same EU country or among farms with the same scale of production from different countries? The answers to these questions constitute the added value of the article. The aim of the paper is to compare the ratio of agricultural income to non-agricultural income in regard to family farms in EU countries. Results show that the CAP solutions do limit the agricultural income disparities but that there are significant differences in the income deprivation of farms with different production values in the same country. These differences also apply to farms with a similar production volume in different countries. This publication includes critical analysis of literature, spatial-analysis and panel regression. The time scale of the research is 2004–2017, the spatial scope is individual EU countries and the subjective scope is representative EU Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) farms.

Description: Road transport is one of the key elements of economic development that helps build social and territorial cohesion. The economic development that has taken place in Poland over the last three decades has led to an improvement in road infrastructure throughout the country. Construction of new roads and improvement of existing ones promotes economic development. However, as the number of cars increases, so does the level of air emissions. In reducing pollutant emissions, the analysis of the technological possibilities used and the improvement of their efficiency with the simultaneous minimization of generated pollution is also of particular importance. The purpose of the publication is to present development trends in road transport in Poland and the possibility of reducing emissions in this respect. The method of analysing strategic documents and statistical data was used to achieve this goal. Moreover, the article shows perspectives for reducing the level of emissions from road transport and refers to the assumptions related to the modernization of the transport sector and reducing its share in carbon emissions and its sustainable development in cities.

Description: The research was a response to the search for alternative energy sources and the assessment of their profitability and legitimacy of use. The assessment used combined energy sources in the form of wind, solar, and natural gas energy. The research was carried out in various locations with varying degrees of sunlight and in various wind zones, which was motivated by the adopted strategy of increasing the importance of non-conventional energy sources and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The evaluation was performed using the Homer Grid software. The studies showed the justification for the use of hybrid energy sources, combining renewable and non-renewable sources, at the current stage of development. In the conditions of the Lubuskie Voivodeship, the level of insolation was more important than the more favourable wind zone in such a model. Higher economic efficiency of the hybrid model was obtained in the southern location, with slightly less favourable conditions for wind installations. At the same time, the investments were economically profitable and allowed for their return in the perspective of at least eleven years, even at current prices.