Climate change is becoming a global problem. In many countries, actions are taken with the main aim of reducing CO₂ emissions. The main action, especially in developed countries, is decarbonization. The European Union has become one of the organizations that plays a leading role in decarbonization of the economy. For this reason, renewable energy sources are being intensively developed in the EU countries. Solar energy with the use of PV installations is developing the fastest. Poland is one of the European leaders in photovoltaic development, and according to estimates for 2021–2025, it will continue to be. The aim of this study was to find out the opinions of people toward actions related to the decarbonization policy in Poland. These opinions were obtained through the prism of respondents’ attitudes toward energy produced by means of PV micro-installations. A questionnaire survey was used in this research. The survey was conducted using the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. To analyze the results of the study, a Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA test and U–Mann Whitney test were used. Responses were obtained from 633 people. The results obtained from the survey allowed us to draw conclusions, which include the following: (1) a lack of general conviction of respondents about the effectiveness of Poland’s decarbonization policy on reducing global CO₂ emissions, especially among those who show a higher willingness to use PV installations, (2) the willingness to use PV installations is motivated by economic rather than environmental benefits, (3) the need for more widespread public campaigns aimed at promoting the benefits of decarbonization and renewable energy sources, and (4) the finding that the respondents’ region of residence (with a different degree of insolation) mattered for the willingness to use PV installations.

European countries are increasingly using renewable energy. Poland is an outsider of such solutions. The Polish energy sector is primarily based on energy produced from coal. However, environmental changes and regulations of the European Union are forcing the increased use of energy from renewable sources. Renewable energy is an industry that is still developing in Poland. At the same time, Poland is a country where the political decisions of the government over the last few years have resulted in a significant limitation of the possibilities of renewable energy development. These actions have also resulted in lowering the profitability of the currently operating renewable energy enterprises, especially those from the sector of small and medium-sized enterprises. An opportunity for SMEs operating in the renewable energy sector is to merge into industry purchasing groups. The aim of the article—and at the same time the research question—is: Is it financially safer for renewable energy companies to operate within purchasing groups compared to companies operating independently in this industry? Traditional ways of purchasing can be transferred to integrated purchasing systems, which will be created by purchasing groups associating renewable energy companies. For this purpose, the financial effects of the implementation and functioning of the purchasing groups in the renewable energy sector in relation to entities operating independently were examined. In the research of renewable energy SMEs, a comparative analysis of key indicators determining the possibility of continuing the activity of these entities was made. The following indicators were examined: current financial liquidity ratio, return on sales, operating cycle, cash conversion cycle, share of receivables in current assets, share of inventory in current assets, turnover ratios, level of receivables, liabilities and profitability. The scientific literature is dominated by studies on purchasing groups in the pharmaceutical and construction industries. Thanks to the research conducted, it has been indicated that the renewable energy industry can also improve its profitability, and thus the possibility of safe continuation of operations by extending the business model to inter-entity cooperation within purchasing groups. Increasing the efficiency of individual entities of the renewable energy industry within purchasing groups becomes particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Statistical analyses and their graphic presentation present the significant impact on the safety and profitability of renewable energy entities in the form of purchasing groups.

In the last few decades, the environmental degradation, global warming, and climate change remained the life-threatening issues across the globe. Specifically, the use of non-renewable fossil fuels is regarded as the most significant reason of such inclined issues. However, the policy-makers and scholars are now more concerned about the recovery of environmental quality, where renewable energy is considered as the primary solution to the existing issue. The developed economies and environment related international organizations rapidly enhances the use and promotion of renewable energy after the taking pledge in the Kyoto Protocol Agreement (1997). Nonetheless, the scholars are participating in analyzing the key drivers of renewable energy. Still, the proper drivers of renewable energy are not properly addressed in the existing literature. To fill this gap, current study analyzed the group of seven (G7) economies over the period 1990-2020. Using various panel data techniques such as slope heterogeneity, cross-section dependence, unit root, and cointegration test, the results indicates that the slopes are heterogeneous, and the cross-section dependence, as well as cointegration exists among the panel economies. Besides, the irregular distribution of data leads to the adoption of novel Method of Moments Quantile Regression accommodating four quantiles, i.e., ( $Q_{0.25},$ $Q_{0.50},$ $Q_{0.75},$ and $Q_{0.90}$). The examined results asserted that economic growth and energy efficiency negatively and significantly affects renewable energy consumption ( $\mathit{REC}$). Whereas, developed environmental related technologies, environmental taxes, and composite risk index are positively affecting $\mathit{REC}$ in the study panel. Besides, improved energy efficiency (energy efficiency squared) also contributed to the promotion of renewable energy consumption. The Granger causality test estimates reveals bidirectional and unidirectional causal association between the variables. Based on the empirical results, policies are provided that could help developed economies in the promotion of renewable energy consumption, improve economic growth, and enhances environmental sustainability.

The study aimed to determine how the public perceives the directions of decarbonization to develop a sustainable energy strategy for Poland. The political challenge is to use dedicated funds and grants to move from the energy market to low-carbon technology. For sustainable development, governments must implement an environmentally friendly, cost-effective, and socially acceptable policy. The risk of social acceptance plays a vital role in Poland, especially in Silesia, influencing the decarbonization process. The study’s main objective was to identify socio-economic features that affect the assessment of the decarbonization process in Poland, assuming that respondents used central or local funds to carry out this process. The authors deepened the multidisciplinary aspect of the analysis of decarbonization, mainly pointing to social issues, which was presented in the article. The study was conducted using the “snowball” method on a group of 444 socially diverse people. They were based on non-parametric statistical methods: Chi-square, Mann–Whitney U, and the Kruskal–Wallis test, which showed that the most effective factors in the decarbonization process are subsidies used by local governments. Moreover, it was found that people with higher education give less support to the centralization of funds for decarbonization, though they perceive that local funds provide a greater chance of success for decarbonization processes. This study fills the gap in social sciences.

The focus of tax reforms in Ukraine, the development of partnerships between payers and supervisors requires new approaches to tax control. The current state of the functioning of the tax control system in Ukraine shows the necessity and at the same time its unpreparedness to transition to more advanced forms, including horizontal monitoring. The purpose of the article is to substantiate the need for effective interaction between taxpayers and controlling bodies in the context of improving the quality of tax control. The methodological basis of the study, in particular the theoretical positions, is the methods of scientific abstraction, induction, deduction, logical method, etc. For analytical research mathematical methods were used, in particular correlation-regression analysis, methods of comparison and grouping, synthesis, tabular and graphical methods. As a result of the research, it was found that the main factors hindering the implementation of horizontal monitoring in Ukraine are the lack of compliance with the legislative framework, the insecurity of the confidentiality of information on the activities of taxpayers, corruption in the DFS, large amounts of shadow economy in the country, etc. At the same time, the high level of inconsistency of the assessed tax liabilities and a considerable number of disputes as a result of this also confirm the low level of trust and cooperation between the DFS authorities and the payers. The analysis of the state of tax audits and the dynamics of tax debt — the calculation of correlation relationships between these indicators (R2 = -0,92) and the forecast of tax debt — showed that preventive tax control measures do not discipline payers to pay them tax arrears, the conducted tax inspections have a positive effect on the repayment of the tax debt by the payers. Such research results indicate that there are problems in establishing trusting relationships between payers and supervisors and the need to find ways to adjust them in the context of the development of progressive forms of tax control.