It includes the following:
•    Awareness raising activities on climate change mitigation and adaptation carried out by schools;
•    Development of high-efficiency industrial and professional cogeneration;
•    Construction /modernization of municipal heating systems and elimination of individual heat sources.

The call dedicated to the awareness raising activities on climate change mitigation and adaptation carried out by schools was definitely the one where the interest of applicants was the highest. The requested grant amount 27 times exceeded the  allocation available and thus constitute a very visible sign that there is a high need to carry out the activities raising the awareness about climate change among students and adapt the school buildings to this challenge. Most of the applications has been submitted with the foreign partner (mostly from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).

The call addressed to SMEs and large enterprises dedicated to the development of high-efficiency industrial and professional co-generatioan exceeded the allocation available 3.5 times and is a proof there a huge need to build new or/and modernise existing sources of high efficiency and professional cogeneration.

Applicants were also very interested in the call aimed to lower the GHG emission (construction/modernization of municipal heating systems and elimination of individual heat sources). 19 application had been submitted for the amount of 225 million PLN that exceeds the available allocation 1.4 times  and is proving that lowering of the GHG emission is an important objective in Poland.

It is worth underlining that the Programme Operator announced  first call for proposals whereas the COVID -19 pandemic broke out. This situation raised many concerns if submission of application in time and the realisation of projects is not endangered. Very careful observation of the dynamic situation and analysis of its impact on the calls, especially taking under consideration action plans made by all countries to tackle with the virus enabled the Programme Operator to minimise the pandemic effects on the calls.

One of the most important decision was prolongation of the deadline of call for proposals, that had been announced on 13th  of March 2020.

Others facilitations  for applicants covered:

• Organisation of the 2 match making event facilitating the talks between Polish applicants and the potential foreign partners (especially from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) in all programme areas;
• Publication of guidance, teaching and training materials on Programme Operators website;
• Publication of the list of foreign institution interested in the partnership in projects  on the Programme Operator Website;
• Sharing the information how to establish partnership with an foreign entity;
• Continuous answering to the questions of applicants dedicated to the calls in order to enable them  to correct submit the application;
• Publication of all answers send via e-mail as a FAQ on the website of the Programme Operator.

The number of the application submitted in the calls confirms that all conducted activities reached its main objective and helped applicants in fulfilling applications in time.

It is also important to underline that huge interest in all the call for applications proves that the topics covered by the Environment, Energy and Climate Change Programme are very important for society and the fact that the amount of  requested funds is much bigger than  allocation shows the high need for financing the investments in environmentally friendly solutions.