Insufficient environment protection may have serious ecological consequences, resulting in a number of problems in the modern world, many of which are a direct result of human behavior. Therefore, one needs to limit negative ecological effects by consciously shaping environment-related behaviors. The present paper analyzes the declared attitudes of individuals when it comes to taking into consideration pro-environmental factors, including energy, consumption, and waste. We have also studied the social awareness of the socially responsible investment idea, as well as pro-ecological individual behaviors related to private finance. Our survey study, conducted on a representative sample of 1030 Polish respondents, shows that participants’ individual features have little impact on pro-ecological decisions, and that declared pro-ecological attitudes are not reflected in actual behaviors. Polish consumers are still not active enough in making decisions concerning pro-ecological actions, first of all, in terms of energy and waste. As a result of the conducted research, we suggest increasing all activities in the field of environmental policy that could increase the participation of society in facilitating sustainable development.

The aim of the article is to present and analyse the attitudes of Polish society and individual investors towards challenges of environmental protection. For the purposes of the study, the following hypothesis was formulated: environmental aspects are an important factor in making investment decisions by individual investors on the Polish capital market. In the article, various research methods were applied, with particular emphasis on empirical research, both external and own. The own research was carried out on a representative sample of the Polish society, as well as on a targeted sample of individual investors who invest in the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Unfortunately, on the basis of results from conducted research, it was found that environmental aspects are not an important factor in making investment decisions by individual investors on the Polish capital market.

The aim of this article is to present Investment Crowdfunding (ICF) in a perspective wider than merely as a new form of financing a certain category of business ventures. Selected aspects of ICF as a phenomenon that is a manifestation of the conflict between economic freedom and regulations and financial market institutions will be emphasized. New concepts of the part of the modern economy in the period of digitization, referred to as the collaborative economy, mesh economy, or sharing economy, should also be taken into account. The issues of excessive and restrictive regulation of the financial market will be presented in this context, as well as the constraints and risk factors of ICF operation and the Polish ICF experience. The study hypothesises that Investment Crowdfunding is a viable alternative for financing micro and small economic projects, if compared to the traditional and over-regulated forms of financing. The usefulness of Investment Crowdfunding concerns primarily economic projects of the start-up category. The study uses the following research methods: critical analysis of the literature of the issue, descriptive and comparative analysis, case study, and deduction. The theoretical considerations and examples presented in the article should be treated with appropriate research caution. However, they make it possible to positively verify the hypothesis.

Political risk on Polish capital market