# The Use of Artificial Intelligence for Assessing the Pro-Environmental Practices of Companies
### Reference to Greater Poland  
The authors analyzed the environmental solutions implemented in select manufacturing companies. The local companies in the Greater Poland Voivodship operate in various industries and vary in terms of manufacturing methods, complexity of processes, scale of activity, and organization of work. The analyzed companies were selected from various industry sectors and of various sizes, divided into two groups: small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and large-sized enterprises (LEs). The authors observed the environmental activity of the two groups of enterprises, with a focus on their differences. The study was based on a questionnaire survey. All survey questions referred to the product's life cycle, from the stage of design, through the manufacturing process and use, and recycling. The success of the study depended on the collaboration of the respondents and their willingness to provide information to the authors that would help them understand how the enterprises function. The results of the survey were analyzed. The ordering of the questions, which follows the stages of the product's life cycle, enabled the authors to break down the results by the level of implementation of environmental solutions during particular life cycle phases. The results were also broken down by the size of the enterprises under analysis and used for a comparison of the pro-environmental behavior of enterprises of various sizes. To date, a limited number of papers have considered issues of ecological activities of companies in Poland [55]. The effect of pro-environmental practice is company-wide and addresses various areas of operation, such as the following:  
* Finance--an area in which pro-environmental action is aimed at securing better economic results;
* Customers--an area in which the needs of beneficiaries are taken care of, safe work conditions are provided to internal customers, and a competitive edge of the enterprise is built;
* Environmental protection-related operational activity--an area of economic resource management and mitigation of environmental impacts;
* Knowledge and development--continuous improvements performed in the areas of finance, customers, and environmental protection [56; 57]. A classification of factors that comprise particular areas of pro-environmental activity is presented in Table 1.  
The literature on the subject provides characteristics of possible environmental activities that can be performed in various areas enterprise-wise. However, this classification does not take into account the significance of the changes introduced in particular areas of operation, depending on the size of the enterprise, the industry in which it operates, and its capabilities. Nevertheless, the most beneficial pro-environmental solutions are those that address the largest number of areas of operation. The survey presented in this paper aims to present the stages of implementation of eco-design in select manufacturing companies based in the Greater Poland Voivodship (30 respondents). The objective of the study is the assessment of ecological activities conducted in manufacturing companies with regard to the size of the company and product life cycle phases. The goal of this study is three-fold:  
* To investigate whether there are differences in the introduction of environmental issues in SMEs and LEs in the Greater Poland Voivodship;
* To examine whether companies in the Greater Poland Voivodship are equally aware of the impact of their business activities and their products on the environment;
* To discover novel, more rapid, and simpler methods to analyze the environmental friendliness of companies, including more efficient models based on artificial intelligence. The contribution of this research will enhance the computational support for business planning and management, design, and manufacturing, including within the \"Industry 4.0\" paradigm, to perform analyses and predictions beyond the scientific knowledge and engineering experiences that exist to date.