What does it mean to be an EU Climate Pact ambassador to you?
We all observe climate change every day, which has been increasingly affecting our lives in recent years. We cannot turn our eyes away from problems that, if left unsolved, will drastically reduce the standard of living and safety of our children and grandchildren. However, if we take the right actions, counteracting climate change will become a new economic engine, and hundreds of billions of euros will be added to the European economy.
It is extremely important that everyone who has an impact on the socio-economic reality is involved in the transformation, and this is the task I fulfill as an ambassador of the pact. Climate Pact Ambassador label gives me additional motivation and European recognition.
It is a responsibility - even if not all citizens understand what it means, everyone expects more ecological actions. Very often people ask me about that initiative. I have plenty of opportunities for discussions on climate during various meetings. Every conversation, even with climate sceptics gives me opportunity to explain the need for green transformation. Sometimes it turns into big scale projects, sometimes into small actions but at the end more people are aware of the climate emergency.
Every month more stakeholders and citizens cooperate with the City Hall within the Łódź’s EcoPact – it is our initiative to jointly build an environmentally friendly city in cooperation with business, institutions, schools and residents.
The Climate Pact Ambassador title also strengthens my ambitions and raises my curiosity about the activities of other Ambassadors. It is a kind of positive competition between us. Very often I check what I can sneak to Łódź from others. I also talk a lot with other Ambassadors about our challenges and experiences. We are learning from each other and creating a Europe-wide climate support team.
How do you believe the EU Climate Pact can effectively address the challenges posed by climate change on both a local and global scale?
Climate Pact is primarily about people who are involved in its implementation day by day, thanks to them, the Pact offers extensive expert support in the field of transformation.
Unfortunately, the sense of transformation is still questioned, and here the Pact provides arguments in the debate with skeptics, indicates paths to effective pro-climate actions with excellent guides and expertise and we use the most popular communication channels, such as TED Climate Podcast hosted by Dan Kwartler.
Every large transformation is a snowball that grows as new enthusiasts join us, we must do everything to make our climate snowball the largest in history and I am convinced that Climate Pact can achieve this at the local and global level.
What are some of the most pressing climate-related issues facing your region or community, and how are you working to address them?
Łódź is located in the heart of Poland. Our location gives us great advantages in creating a transport hub, but it also causes inconvenience, the greatest of which is the location of the city on a watershed, which, combined with the effects of global warming and increased periods of drought and heavy rains, generates major problems in water resources management. To meet the challenges, we carry out several mitigation activities.
We are running a subsidy project for residents to collect rainwater and green their yards, we are systematically greening public places for example in the last two years we have created 130 ha of new forest parks, and recently, thanks to obtaining funding directly from the European Commission budget, we bring to the surface the Lamus River which flowed through an underground channel turned into a sewage. We want to use the experience from this investment to restore other rivers in Łódź that currently flow through underground channels.
Thermal modernization of buildings is also a priority. In the EU, buildings generate 40 % energy consumption and 36 % GHG emissions. 75 percent of buildings in Europe are not currently energy efficient and, according to estimates, the vast majority (95%) will still be in use in 2050.
To face this problem we have been running the largest city center revitalization program in Poland. We also thermal modernized public facilities and, in order to accelerate the transformation, we joined the Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission, under which we managed to obtain funding for over EUR 1.5 million for the first pilot project – NEEST thanks to which a model of comprehensive energy transformation of the entire quarter will be created, scalable in Europe.