Legal and Financial Aspects of Eco-efficiency Investments in Poland

Abstract

Implementing CSR is multi-faceted and triggers a multi-dimensional decision. Researchers often group those different dimensions into three main pillars: environmental, social and corporate governance (so-called ESG factors). In previous findings of Daszyńska-Żygadło et al. (Inzinerine Ekonomika-Engineering Economics 27:230–238, 2016) a special attention was focused on an environmental performance and its impact on firm’s value. The aim of this chapter is to analyze the impact of Polish government regulations on the future development of renewable energy sector. We used the methodology of Regulation Impact Assessment Guidelines introduced by the EU Commission (Impact Assessment Guidelines SEC 791. Brussels, 2005) to analyze the consequences not only for sector participants but indirectly for economy and society as a whole. Since renewable energy has direct positive impact on the environment it limits the cost to the society; and since many companies report the renewable energy purchase/production as a part of their CSR policy it has indirect impact on other sectors in terms of their CSR actions. The main group of risk factors discussed in this chapter are related to the revenue stream. As a result of our analysis we suppose energy prices might increase in the auctioning system (adjusted to the reference prices), and this risk might grow over time. The other group of risk factors impacts the sales volume. Here the risks are tied to the auction mechanism. The auction characteristic (technological preferences, production volume, announcement date etc.) is in the hand of government bodies and plan for auctions in subsequent years is not scheduled. Furthermore, to fix the sales volume the investor needs to win an auction and carry operational risks.