The Environmental Protection Law (Prawo ochrony środowiska) of 27 April 2001 is Poland’s core statute regulating environmental protection. It sets out the principles, objectives and basic obligations for safeguarding the environment, including protecting air, water, soil, plants and animals, preventing and limiting pollution, ensuring sustainable use of natural resources, and establishing the framework for environmental decision‑making and permits (such as integrated environmental permits for industrial installations, emissions control, and ecological reviews). The law also defines duties for individuals and businesses using the environment, obligations for public authorities, economic instruments like fees and penalties, and enforcement mechanisms to ensure compliance with environmental standards. Its provisions help implement both national policy and EU environmental directives.
The Act of 7 November 2025 amending the Environmental Protection Law and certain other acts updated this framework by extending the duration of certain transitional provisions until 31 December 2026.

 Act of 27 April 2001 – Environmental Protection Law

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Amending Act of 7 November 2025

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

Risk is the potential for adverse consequences resulting from the dynamic interplay between (climate-related) hazards, exposure, and vulnerability of affected human or ecological systems.

Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Justice is the ethical and political framework that addresses fairness, including issues of responsibility, rights, and structural inequity.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

Molecules in the atmosphere that play a key role in the greenhouse effect by trapping heat radiating from Earth’s surface.

Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives