The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management announced the first results of a competition for projects related to so-called environmental disinformation. A pool of PLN 11.4 million was distributed, much of which ended up in the pockets of acquaintances of officials from the ministry subordinate to Paulina Hennig-Kloska. The list includes, among others, a foundation established after the 2023 elections and linked to a parliamentary group, as well as an association whose president sits on at least several bodies appointed by the Ministry of Climate and Environment. Meanwhile, the “guardians of ecological truth” are to be trained by the son of a regional councillor from Civic Platform in Pomerania, writes “Gazeta Polska”.
“Academy of Guardians of Ecological Truth: Building the resilience of opinion leaders to disinformation through intensive training and skills development”, this is the title of the project that received the highest funding from the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management. This means that an organization from Pomerania will receive a round PLN 1 million to create guardians of ecological truth. By browsing the social media of the Baltic Digital Institute, one may get the impression that it is a local organization providing training in digital security. The profile features hundreds of photos of participants with captions stating that everything is funded by EU money and the regional marshal’s office. The organization also has a business arm offering AI consulting.
It turns out that the founders of BDI are connected to politics not only professionally. The company’s president is Krzysztof Rek, privately the son of Danuta Rek, a councillor and deputy chair of the Pomeranian Regional Assembly. The businessman actively supported his mother during the election campaign. “Without a shadow of a doubt. Apart from the fact that the similarity of surnames is no coincidence, I will only add that this woman taught me, among many things, what heart and social work are. I am extremely proud watching how she carries out her mandate and I hope it will be the same in the next term”, he wrote on April 5, 2024, on his social media. However, there are far more such doubts on the list.
Zielińska’s associates from the parliamentary group
Parents for Climate is another NGO operating at the intersection of politics. In this case, it is even difficult to distinguish what constitutes political activity and what is social work. A glance at the foundation’s activity report is enough. “Advocacy and legal actions – in 2024, the Parliamentary Group ‘Parents for Climate’ was established, supporting initiatives related to environmental protection, public health and climate education. It held five meetings. The foundation also actively participated in councils and working groups at the Ministry of Climate and Environment and the Ministry of National Education, co-creating recommendations on climate and health education. The foundation conducted multi-level advocacy on the deposit return system”, we read in the organization’s report. The mentioned parliamentary group includes ten MPs from Civic Platform, including Deputy Minister of Climate and Environment Urszula Zielińska, and one MP from Polska 2050 Party. A quick look at the organization’s social media is enough to see who it supports. It engages in propaganda, portraying the climate ministry in a positive light. Posts about the deposit system are particularly striking.
While almost all of Poland complains about malfunctioning bottle return machines, Parents for Climate are satisfied. “Although the deposit system has only recently been fully implemented, as a mother I am very pleased by the reaction of my son Tadek (6), who recently asked me: ‘Mom, does this bottle have a deposit?’. Observing Tadek and helping him put bottles aside, and then the fun of inserting them into the ‘crusher’, made it easier for me to educate him”, reads a post by Dagmara. There are many similar accounts. As part of the competition described here, the organization received PLN 962,280.00 for the project “Educating doctors on counteracting climate disinformation and the impact of climate change on health”. Is that a lot? The organization was established in April 2024. According to its report, by the end of the year it generated revenues of PLN 77,647.72. Let us add that before it officially began operating, an informal movement had already been created – of course, at that time strongly anti-government.
A Civic Platform activist
Of course, the list of beneficiaries of the National Fund’s program could not omit the most well-known environmental organization in Poland, the Workshop for All Beings Association. For the project titled “Resilient to climate and environmental disinformation – education and response”, the association received PLN 818,234.00. It must be admitted that this is one of the few organizations on the list of 16 entities that actually has experience in environmental education.
The organization has been involved in this for decades. However, it is hard not to notice that in recent years it has evolved from an NGO into a kind of ecological extension of Civic Platform. Its president, Radosław Ślusarczyk, known as “Suchy”, was one of the speakers at a Civic Platform party convention, where he spoke about ecology. He is considered one of the “all-powerful” figures in the Ministry of Climate and Environment. He sits on the State Council for Nature Conservation, despite formally only holding a master’s degree in geography. He is also a member of several teams, including one dealing with hunting management. His influence may be evidenced by the fact that after the recent change of government, one of the largest nature reserves in Poland was established near his home – contrary to the results of public consultations. Critics claim that the activist has already led to the dismissal of two forest district managers who attempted to challenge him substantively. What is characteristic, however, is that the association has so far been heavily funded by external sources. Using funds from various international institutions, it opposed, among others, the construction of the Ostrołęka power plant, the State Forests, and biomass burning. Many of these initiatives in the previous term were carried out with the support of anti-Law and Justice (PiS) politicians in the Senate. The upper chamber even prepared plans to amend the Forest Act.
Over PLN 12 million in eco-funding
The competition organized by the National Fund was announced last year. From the very beginning, it sparked controversy due to the relatively short application period – October 20-31, 2025. The maximum grant amount was PLN 1 million and could cover up to 90 percent of eligible costs. Initially, the total budget for the program was to be PLN 10 million, but the institution ultimately increased it to PLN 12,696,254.00. “The main objective of the call is to support activities counteracting climate and environmental disinformation through active education and training for key social groups. Projects should focus on disseminating knowledge about climate, environmental protection and sustainable development, with particular emphasis on climate education, in order to effectively counter disinformation in these areas. The need to build critical thinking skills and the ability to assess sources of information is also emphasized”, reads the program description.