The Analysis of Public Funds Utilization Efficiency for Climate Neutrality in the European Union Countries

The aim of this article was to assess the efficiency of the utilization of public funds for climate neutrality. It was concluded that the data gathered in public statistics are not adapted to current challenges and hinder the direct measurement of climate policy objective implementation progress. Due to that, an innovative approach to public intervention efficiency analysis was proposed for the sake of decreasing CO2 emission in 27 European Union (EU) countries, based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method and soft modeling. Statistical data are derived from the Eurostat database and pertain to the years 2005–2019. It was demonstrated that activity efficiency of the particular EU countries on climate neutrality varied and that together with the increase in public funds spent on environmental protection, the growth of effects in the field of reaching climate neutrality objectives was not observed. The greatest positive impact on achieving climate neutrality objectives was revealed for activities connected with building renewable sources of energy (RES) and there was no correlation detected for expenditures connected with transport infrastructure, which means that public funds used for their construction did not influence climate neutrality. It was established that, in the analyzed period, the decisions on allocating public funds were not taken on the basis of the expected amount of reduction in relation to the volume of outlays. In order to track the reasons for detected inefficiency, 52 projects were analyzed within the case study, which covered 3738 investments in the replacement of heating sources in one region of Poland. It was revealed that the efficiency of those investments varies; however, due to the full availability of data of the acquired results and outlays devoted to them, a synthetic index of efficiency measurement was established that presents the amount of CO2 reduction for EUR 1. When comparing the analyses carried out on macro and micro scales, it was observed that on the scale of the EU, there is a lack of uniform measurements or benchmarks of projects in the field of CO2 emissions reduction. Meanwhile, from the whole EU’s perspective, it should be reasonable to undertake projects with the highest economic efficiency, irrespective of political and geographical aspects. The results obtained should be utilized by decision-makers to elaborate reference methodologies and good practices in order to successfully implement climate objectives and especially the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). What should be established are universal, on the EU scale, measurements and rules for gathering and counting data as well as benchmarks for the particular project types.

Polarization of Living Standards among Administrative Units Engaged in Cross-Border Cooperation—The Example of Polish Municipalities of Euroregion Baltic

The present work examines the standard of living among the Polish municipalities of the Euroregion Baltic—an institution engaged in cross-border cooperation which is striving to improve the standard of living in border areas. The time span of the study extended to the first full year after Poland’s EU accession (2004), and to the 15th anniversary of the accession and the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Euroregion Baltic (2019 in both cases). All 38 Polish municipalities (NUTS 5) of the Euroregion were covered by the study. Using a synthetic index of standard of living based on Hellwig’s development pattern method, the municipalities were grouped into four classes according to their index value. Hierarchical methods were used to identify which municipalities had the most similar standards of living. The highest standard of living was recorded for the small, tourism-oriented town of Jastarnia and for strong urban centers (Gdańsk, Gdynia, Olsztyn, and Elbląg). Rural municipalities, especially those situated near the Polish-Russian border (Kaliningrad Oblast), had lower standards of living. The results show a progressing polarization in the standard of living, manifested by a widening gap between first-class municipalities and the other classes. This stratification was attributed to multiple factors, including the endogenous potential of the communities.

Polish Cittaslow Local Governments’ Support for Renewable Energy Deployment vs. Slow City Concept

The slow city concept is associated with great care for the protection of the natural environment and the use of renewable energy sources. Thus, the study aimed to discuss the potential of the slow city model and the actual role of Cittaslow local governments in deploying renewable energy, based on the case study of the Polish Cittaslow Network. To achieve this aim, we carried out qualitative and quantitative data analyses, based on literature review and data for all 35 Polish Cittaslow municipalities, retrieved from: (i) development strategies (ii) a survey (iii) the Local Data Bank of Statistics Poland, (iv) the Quality of Life Synthetic Index (QLI). To process the data, we applied descriptive statistics, the Shapiro-Wilk test, the non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Spearman’s rank test. Findings showed that the support for renewable energy deployment was not at a high level and did not correlate with the goals set in the Cittaslow development strategies. This was the result of a cumulation of pressing social and economic problems, which the local authorities in Poland are legally obliged to solve, while the implementation of renewable energy is not obligatory. The QLI for these municipalities was low and renewable energy was not a significant element in improving the quality of life of citizens.

Tools for social policy management: the SiSo Scale for measuring situations of social difficulty

The design and evaluation of social policies requires information systems that enable social intervention with the people targeted by the programmes and services and that also offer indicators for the follow-up and monitoring of the policies adopted. The article presents the process of validation of a tool for diagnosing situations of social difficulty arising from social exclusion. The scale has been implemented in one of Spain’s seventeen Autonomous Communities and has been selected on the basis of Good Practice under the European Social Fund. Expert judges were consulted for content validity; the metric properties of the scores obtained by the scale were examined and an exploratory factorial analysis (EFA) was performed to study the internal structure. The results show that the scale has adequate levels of content validity, construct validity and internal consistency. The SiSo Scale supplies a synthetic index of Social Position, providing professionals with the technical tools needed to carry out social diagnoses and simultaneously giving valid and reliable information on the social condition of people in a situation of social exclusion, which can guide social policy decision-making.

Study of Perceived Accessibility in Daily Travel within the Metropolis

The growth of metropolises and the number of vehicles cruising within their boundaries creates a permanent problem of dissatisfaction with transport accessibility. This study aims to identify the difference between perceived (PA) and objective (OA) transport accessibility. For its implementation, it was necessary: to explore PA between different residential areas and travel modes, reveal the influence of the travel regime on the PA, compare the impact of social-demographic factors on the individuals' PA. The research methodology is based on a large cross-sectional study with 2,275 respondents. A quota sample was used for 12 administrative districts of the Moscow metropolis. The data was processed by IBM SPSS Statistics 20 statistical program to obtain descriptive statistics indicators. Correlation analysis of the respondent's answers to the four items for PA assessment was performed to assess the relationship between the results of the solutions. Next, a synthetic index of PA was calculated and analyzed differences using the integral index PA. The relationship significance was assessed using F-criterion-based one-way ANOVA. The novelty of our study is as follows: it contributes to previous research on the possibility of measuring perceived affordability in metropolitan areas and benchmarking OA and RA. Doi: 10.28991/esj-2021-01316 Full Text: PDF

Spatial Differentiation of the Socio-Economic Development of Poland–“Invisible” Historical Heritage

The analysis aims to identify spatial variations of socio-economic development in Poland at the local level and to determine their correlation with conditions resulting from the historical political divisions of today’s areas of the country. The research procedure helps to verify the hypothesis that spatial differentiation of socio-economic development in Poland is permanent and does not show significant changes during periods of economic growth and crisis. We can emphasize at the same time the persisting differences between cities and their functional areas on the one hand and rural areas on the other. The study applied an innovative procedure of determining the synthetic index. The procedure of classifying local units presented in the text was based on the original random forest method. The outcomes confirm that contemporary spatial diversification at the level of socio-economic development in Poland is still strongly conditioned by history, especially by the socio-economic consequences of the partition of Poland between the three superpowers (Russia, Prussia and Austria). This is evident in the synthetic presentation of the level of socio-economic development. However, in the case of certain socio-economic phenomena, the values of indicators describing them no longer directly relate in their diversity to historical borders, particularly the former partition borders.

National Parks—Areas of Economic Development or Stagnation? Evidence from Poland

An increasingly popular approach to protected areas as places that should combine natural and socioeconomic goals, poses questions regarding the effects of achieving such goals, particularly in the context of generating local economic benefits. Therefore, the objectives of this study are as follows: (1) determining the level and diversity of the socioeconomic development of communes with national parks as compared with neighboring communes that are not protected because of national parks (treating them as a point of reference for comparisons), and (2) presenting the level of tourism development in communes with national parks as compared with neighboring areas and other components of socioeconomic development. The achievement of the research objectives is based on the use of 28 indicators which, following the standardization process, allow for constructing a synthetic index (Composite Development Index-CDI) that shows development disparities in the two analyzed groups of communes. The results indicate that communes with national parks are characterized by a slightly higher level of general development as compared with other communes and a considerably higher level of tourism development. However, it should be noted that the adopted indicators differ considerably in both groups of communes.

Social resilience and welfare systems under COVID-19: A European comparative perspective

COVID-19 and the corresponding economic lockdown and income loss for large segments of population was something unexpected for all European countries, and their welfare systems were not prepared to protect their citizens from such threats. Social resilience is becoming used in disaster risk analysis, and preferred to that of vulnerability, to refer the ability of the social entities to respond to such challenges, enabling them to cope and adjust to adverse events. It has been more recently used in the context of the European Union (EU) about COVID-19, regarding the creation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility, intended to mitigate the economic and social impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The global nature of this pandemic makes possible and relevant a deeper understanding of social resilience at different levels of analysis: international, national, local and individual/household levels. This article aims to contribute to this by proposing a set of indicators of social resilience in face of COVID-19, supported in a theoretical framework developed herein, and comparing the performance of a selection of EU countries with distinct welfare system configurations, with different roles played by the government, the market, the social organizations and the families. Using comparable statistical data at macro level and data concerning the responses of government to the economic and social effects of the pandemic, we produce a synthetic index of social resilience, combining resilience on coping and resilience on adapting. We relate the differences found in coping and adapting with the welfare system configurations of these countries.

Assessment of the Technological Quality of X5CRNI18-10 Steel Parts after Laser and Abrasive Water Jet Cutting Using Synthetic Index of Technological Quality

Despite extensive knowledge of the cutting methods described, no universal method has been developed so far for evaluating the technological quality of elements shaped by different cutting processes. The aim of the research described in this article was to fill this gap and to propose the author’s methodology for the assessment of the technological quality of the surface of X5CRNI18-10 steel shaped as a result of laser cutting and abrasive water jet cutting. A synthetic index of technological quality assessment of the surface after cutting CTQ (cutting technological quality) was proposed. Three groups of factors were taken into account in the assessment of technological quality of the surface after cutting: selected surface texture parameters (arithmetic mean deviation of the surface Sa and total height of the surface St), results of measurements of dimensional accuracy of cut elements (length deviation LD and width deviation WD) as well as indicators of surface morphology estimated on the basis of microscopic images of the surface after cutting (deformation intensity DI and identification of cutting zones ICZ). On the basis of CTQ values determined, the cutting results of both cutting methods were compared. The analyses presented in this paper proved that the CTQ index can be effectively used to compare the results of a cutting process conducted using different methods and under different conditions. The developed CTQ index is a universal valuation tool, allowing for quantitative evaluation of features related to the technological quality of cutting process results.

Containing the Transmission of COVID-19: A Modeling Study in 160 Countries

Background: It is much valuable to evaluate the comparative effectiveness of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) prevention and control in the non-pharmacological intervention phase of the pandemic across countries and identify useful experiences that could be generalized worldwide.Methods: In this study, we developed a susceptible–exposure–infectious–asymptomatic–removed (SEIAR) model to fit the daily reported COVID-19 cases in 160 countries. The time-varying reproduction number (Rt) that was estimated through fitting the mathematical model was adopted to quantify the transmissibility. We defined a synthetic index (IAC) based on the value of Rt to reflect the national capability to control COVID-19.Results: The goodness-of-fit tests showed that the SEIAR model fitted the data of the 160 countries well. At the beginning of the epidemic, the values of Rt of countries in the European region were generally higher than those in other regions. Among the 160 countries included in the study, all European countries had the ability to control the COVID-19 epidemic. The Western Pacific Region did best in continuous control of the epidemic, with a total of 73.76% of countries that can continuously control the COVID-19 epidemic, while only 43.63% of the countries in the European Region continuously controlled the epidemic, followed by the Region of Americas with 52.53% of countries, the Southeast Asian Region with 48% of countries, the African Region with 46.81% of countries, and the Eastern Mediterranean Region with 40.48% of countries.Conclusion: Large variations in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic existed across countries. The world could benefit from the experience of some countries that demonstrated the highest containment capabilities.