As a consequence of increasing air pollution, the European Commission has decided to introduce special directives laying down the measures to achieve climate and energy neutrality. Renewable energy (RE) sources play an important role in the pursuit of these goals, which has been taken into account in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The aim of this article is to describe patterns and trends in the achievements of the energy policy of European Union (EU) countries in the field of renewable energy in sustainable development. The identification of leaders in this field gives the possibility to analyse actions taken by the governments of these countries and the possible implementation of the introduced solutions on the ground of individual Member States at the regional and national levels. At the beginning Main goal of energy policy on the field of renewable energy sources (RES) is to increase production from environmentally friendly sources that is why trends were determined in order to assess the rate of achievement of the national target for changes the share of energy from renewable sources in total gross energy consumption. Groups of similar countries were then identified on the basis of three indicators corresponding to the targets set in the climate and energy package. In the group of analysed countries, 14 have achieved the 2020 targets and 4 have exceeded the 2030 targets. The main renewable energy sources (RES) are biofuels, wind, and hydropower. In the assessment of the achievement of energy policy targets, the best situation was observed in the case of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. These countries have significantly increased the share of renewable energy in total energy consumption. Compared to other EU countries, they have reduced the economy’s energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions the most.

Energy security affects the functioning of countries politically, economically, and socially. Energy is an important factor in sustainable development efforts. Hence, countries are assessing their energy systems for compatibility with sustainable development goals by creating new concepts for energy development. Combining the concepts of energy security and sustainable energy consumption, an analysis of the differentiation of EU countries in terms of selected indicators indicated in Goal 7 of Agenda 2030 was carried out in dynamic terms. Two groups of indicators were distinguished. One group of indicators was selected to represent the changes in energy demand reported by final consumers, taking into account the use of energy obtained from renewable sources. The second group of indicators represents those relating to the security of supply of raw materials, i.e., energy dependency indicators broken down by major energy commodities and an energy productivity indicator. The analysis uses the coefficient of relative proximity of the facility to the ideal facility proposed in the TOPSIS method. The analyses carried out do not indicate that there is a relationship between the level of sustainable energy consumption and energy productivity or energy import dependency. A statistically significant correlation was observed between energy import dependency by oil and petroleum products and primary energy consumption, and between the share of renewable energy in gross final energy consumption and total energy import dependency.

The functioning of various agroecosystems is nowadays shaped by different farming systems, which may impair their functions, as well as being beneficial to them. The benefits include ecosystem services, defined as economic and noneconomic values gained by humans from ecosystems, through supporting soil formation and nutrient circulation, and the impact of agriculture on climate and biodiversity. Their mutual flow and various disturbances depend on the agroecosystem’s management method, which is associated with the type of management of agricultural land (AL) in individual farms. This paper raises a problem of transformation in the structure of three main farming systems in Poland, in 2004–2018, in relation to the implementation of 16 selected ecosystem services and their scale. Special attention was given to organic farming, as the most environmentally friendly and sustainable. The analysis demonstrates the increase in ALs in that type of production during the analyzed period of time. Disparities of transformation associated with the type of agricultural system were noticeable at the regional level, which were presented in 16 Polish voivodeships. The results of the analysis confirm that the organic system, which is an important carrier of various ecosystem services, gained a stable position. Moreover, areas with integrated farming still do not exceed 0.5% of total agricultural lands in such voivodeships. The analysis of factors influencing the deterioration or disappearance of selected environmental services characterizing agricultural systems indicates the need to depart from an intensive conventional management system.

The article is devoted to presenting the topic of migration of Ukrainian nationals to Poland. The work makes use of a survey under a project carried out in Polish rural areas and small towns. Seven hundred interviews were held in total. We conducted a quantitative analysis of its results here. The employed methods involve variable frequency distribution. The independence of the features was tested with the non-parametric chi-square test of independence. The association of the investigated variables was determined with Cramér’s V. The research shows that the most numerous foreign nationals in the Polish labour market in 2021 were Ukrainians. The positive trend started in 2017. The respondents perceived the migration of Ukrainian nationals to Poland mostly positively, especially regarding seasonal work. They also emphasized that the Ukrainians performed work at variance with their qualifications. Only every fifth participant agreed that migrants took away jobs from Poles. Most of the respondents pointed out that small business owners benefited from employing Ukrainians. The overwhelming majority of the respondents noted an increase in migration from Ukraine after the full-scale invasion and that entire families of Ukrainians were coming to Poland. Nearly half of them agreed that the support system for Ukrainian migrants was a burden on municipal budgets.

Changes in agrarian structure in the EU during the period 2010–2016 in terms of typological groups of countries | Jadwiga Bożek, Czesław Nowak, Monika Zioło | Agricultural Journals