Connecting decision makers to a dynamic network of information Bloomberg quickly and accurately delivers business and financial information The state-controlled company wants the authorities to let it pay the 1.3 billion zloty ($345 million) due this year in installments starting in January 2026 It’s the second time this week that the miner of coal for steel production is seeking financial relief from public institutions it said it would apply for a 1.6 billion zloty refund from the country’s power price subsidy fund Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker More than 65% of all nitrogen fertilizers that farmers apply in fields worldwide are not used by crops and wash into our natural ecosystems, leading to 2.6 billion tons of carbon emissions per year, according to a 2023 study from the University of Cambridge—more than global shipping and aviation combined Piotr Lazarek, a dual-degree fourth-year student in Penn’s Jerome Fisher Program in Management & Technology (M&T), is unflaggingly driven by the question of how farmers can reduce fertilizer application, thereby reducing both costs and the agricultural carbon footprint. He founded Nirby, a real-time farmland management platform that has been piloted by more than 200 European farmers The startup also has built an autonomous drone system for real-time soil testing that is patent pending in more than 15 countries The project has been awarded the 2025 President’s Sustainability Prize created to support students who have ambitious proposals for post-graduation environmental projects and are committed to making a positive Each project receives $100,000 in implementation costs plus a $50,000 living stipend per team member “The President’s Sustainability Prize and the President’s Innovation Prize have been a dream of mine since freshman year,” says Lazarek “Piotr and Nirby have created an innovative and easy-to-adopt farmland management system,” Babin says “The integration of licensed government satellite data and data analytics provides farmers with automated fertilizer optimization to save money and avoid the environmental impact of fertilizer run-off.” Lazarek says that in many conversations with farmers he kept hearing about how they juggle dozens of discrete agricultural applications: one for inventory management “We realized that everything in this space is so disconnected,” he says “Companies are developing products—very specific solutions to only a very small spectrum of the entire problem What we wanted to build was a full system that allows them to integrate everything within a single platform.” Lazarek says Nirby is working at the intersection of mechanical engineering and optics to answer the fundamental questions of where “We use satellite imagery from the European Space Agency to identify where inefficiencies are on the fields then we deploy our autonomous drones that land at predetermined test points—guided by the satellite data— and test soil properties in real-time to identify why the inefficiencies have occurred,” he says we generate precise application maps for fertilizers to tell farmers how to optimize their production.” Lazarek says a prototype drone for soil testing has undergone multiple iterations He describes it as “a combination of a flying laboratory and a drilling platform,” containing a spectrometer with a proprietary optical system to perform soil spectroscopy the measurement of light absorption to detect the chemical composition of soil Nirby uses machine learning algorithms to determine key soil properties—such as nitrogen levels—and combines that with productivity insights from satellite data to create the most efficient fertilization plans “By understanding why low-productivity areas perform poorly and why high-productivity areas thrive we can provide farmers with actionable insights,” Lazarek says “We enable application of the exact types and amounts of fertilizers needed to improve productivity of underperforming zones and avoid overfertilization in high-productivity zones.” He says farmers just need to insert application maps into tractors equipped with fertilizer spreaders or sprayers which then automatically adjust dosages of fertilizers in each zone of the field His mother is a teacher and his father an engineer “Growing up with an engineer dad means a lot of things it means that you develop a love for building things around the same age you start walking,” he says he spent a lot of time tinkering in a garage full of his dad's contraptions at age 16 he built a rover with a dream of one day testing soil on Mars he heard a story in his chemistry class about a nearby farm that suffered crop failure due to high levels of aluminum in the soil He started asking his teacher questions about what happened and learned that farmers didn’t perform laboratory soil testing because it’s time-consuming Lazarek says he realized that his Mars rover would never land on Mars Working with a team of developers and engineers from Poland he shifted from focusing on the Red Planet to the Blue Planet He continued working on the project as he moved to London for secondary school and began applying to universities, initially thinking he would study engineering. But then he read about the M&T Program, a dual-degree program in the Wharton School and Penn Engineering He shifted from solely being an engineer to also being an entrepreneur “People say that this project changed my life I was afraid of dreaming big,” Lazarek says but he clearly remembers his parents telling him over and over that anything is possible if he works hard enough “Receiving the President’s Sustainability Prize made me realize they were right.” Nirby has won more than 16 business competitions and raised more than $450,000 in non-equity funding The startup’s team members are now preparing for their first investment round But “the most important thing so far has been the mentorship,” Lazarek says, citing Babin and M&T program director Gad Allon I wasn’t expecting that it’ll be so easy to reach out to world-class experts and leading minds in their fields,” he says “At Penn I can get the best possible help in the world the ambitious Dakar Greenbelt project seeks to create an extensive network of ecological infrastructure in and around the city to sustainably address environmental concerns and enhance urban life With support from David Gouverneur and Ellen Neises candidate Rob Levinthal in the Weitzman School of Design led two courses that included a field trip to Dakar that culminated in students presenting their visions for parts of the Greenbelt The new Vagelos Laboratory for Energy Science and Technology boasts adaptable laboratory spaces to support the dynamic needs of pioneering research ← → Poland’s vast coal mines powered its economic recovery following the devastation of World War II But now the shaky economics of coal and a concerted climate push by the European Union are forcing the nation’s government to rethink its embrace of the dirtiest fossil fuel the nation’s once-mighty coal industry is legend — and a curse The government’s tough choices can be eased by the EU which is offering generous aid to help cushion the blow to mining regions which has 2 billion euros ($2.36 billion) in grants and investments earmarked for Poland was conceived with Poland’s dilemma in mind as a means to help it transition to a low-carbon economy The fund will support clean energy research and development and the reduction of emissions at carbon-intensive industrial facilities The pressure on Poland to wind down its coal industry is coming from many corners — and all at once. In Poland itself, smog-blanketed cities and villages, and massive coal market subsidies have stirred popular resentment. Between 2013 and 2018 Poland spent 6.8 billion euros ($8 billion) propping up the largely state-owned coal sector through direct payments and electricity price subsidies The costs of the EU’s carbon-trading scheme have staggered the Polish energy sector and industry even rendering some key energy-intensive industries — such as iron and steel — uncompetitive yet the country is actually importing coal from Russia because it is of higher quality and is less expensive The irony of importing Russian coal is dark as Poland’s leaders had long seen its domestic coal as a form of energy security — primarily against its historical foe “Our children are suffocating from smog and our government, instead of investing in clean technologies, invests in Russian coal and does not allow Poles to use European green money,” said Polish opposition politician Malgorzata Kidawa-Blonska referring to monies such as those of the Just Transition Fund The conundrum Poland’s leadership now faces won’t resolve itself without a major break from the past, whether this suits coal miners or not. If Poland fails to commit to the EU’s net-zero emissions plan and timetable, half of its share of Just Transition Fund monies will be withheld and could go to other EU member countries European Council President Charles Michel said earlier this year As investors and insurers back away, the economics of coal turn toxic. Read more “We have no option but to change,” says Maćkowiak-Pandera of Forum Energii “This means we have to invest in future-oriented sectors and not those of the past Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based writer whose work has appeared in the The Nation, Foreign Policy, New York Times, Chronicle of Higher Education, The Atlantic and elsewhere. He has authored several books on European affairs, most recently Berlin Calling: A Story of Anarchy, Music, the Wall and the Birth of the New Berlin. He was a fellow at the American Academy in Berlin. More about Paul Hockenos → Never miss an article. Subscribe to the E360 Newsletter → all of whom gathered at the congress of the association VetNEST Deliberations were held at the Counting Education Centre in the palace in Pawłowice from September 29th to October 1st This was the second such meeting of the Association in Wroclaw; the first took place in 2005 the participants discussed ECTS score and the exchange of experiences related to improving the quality of education for future veterinarians Much attention was given to the area of practical training for "summer schools" organized by the departments These are multi-week long intensive courses in selected specialties One Wrocław student attended this past year’s summer school which was held in Brno VetNEST is an international organization founded in 1993 by the universities of Brno Kosice and Ljubljana - its historical roots originate from the university in Vienna Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences has been a member of the organization since 1998 Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences25 Norwida St NIP: 896-000-53-54REGON: 000001867EORI: PL896000535400000 This site uses custom cookies to ensure that it functions properly. Some are necessary for the page to run, so will always remain active. These cookies will store information about the user's cookie settings. In addition, third-party cookies are used for external tools. For more information see the privacy policy. Enables storage (such as cookies) related to advertising Sets consent for sending user data to Google for online advertising purposes such as cookies (web) or device identifiers (apps) Enables storage that supports the functionality of the website or app Enables storage related to personalization Enables storage related to security such as authentication functionality A coal miner monitors a machine grinding coal at a coal mine in Pawlowice 2020 at 9:32 AM ESTBookmarkSaveLock This article is for subscribers only.Polish coal miners planning a protest in Warsaw later this month may find it more difficult than ever to secure their pay hike demands whose strong negotiating position harks back to the Solidarity union’s emblematic fight against communism have so far seen most of their expectations met by every government in the last 30 years