Slovenia By
Barbara Kvac (Focus, Slovenia)
Basic
information
|
|
Base-year emissions Mt CO2 |
2007 emissions Mt CO2 |
Change 2006– 2007 % |
Change 2007/base year % |
Kyoto target % |
|
Slovenia |
18.6 |
20.7 |
0.7 |
1.8 |
–8.0 |
|
EU-15 |
4232.9 |
4052.0 |
–1.6 |
–5.0 |
–8.0 |
|
EU-27 |
5564.0 |
5045.1 |
–1.2 |
–9.3 |
No target |
|
|
2007 GDP Growth % |
2008 GDP Growth % |
2009 GDP Growth (est.) % |
Gross Inland Energy
Consumption Change Feb.2009/
Feb.2008 % |
|
Slovenia |
6,8 |
3,5 |
-3,4 |
-11,8 |
Source: EEA Report No. 5/2007
Public attitude towards Climate
Change
Slovenia did not undertake any national surveys on public attitudes towards
climate change. Nevertheless, the Eurobarometer's special climate-change
survey, published in September 2008 (Europeans' attitudes towards climate
change), clearly shows that a vast majority (80%) of the population is very
concerned about climate change; 89% of Slovenians believe that climate change
is a very serious problem. According to the survey most people also think that
they are well informed about consequences, causes and ways in which to fight
climate change. Most respondents also stated that they have already undertaken
actions aimed at helping to fight climate change (79%) and 67% disagreed with
the statement that there is nothing we can do against climate change. The
survey also displayed the dissatisfaction of citizens with actions taken by
different actors, including the national government, European Union and
citizens themselves.
It is difficult to assess to what degree the public is informed about
the Kyoto Protocol and about the responsibilities that it places on Slovenia,
although the experience from interacting with public at different
events/actions indicates that at least some citizens are aware of it and at the
same time concerned about the USA turning its back on the Kyoto Protocol. This,
however, does not seem to be a reason for citizens to believe that the
situation is so critical that it can not be solved anymore.
NGOs activities
Only a few NGOs in Slovenia work on climate change. There are currently three visible
organisations in this field and only two of them work on policy issues.
Although NGOs have had better access to policymakers in recent years, they are
still not considered to be partners in climate debates. NGOs do have formal
opportunities to express their views and positions, and there is hardly any
record of their concerns’ being reflected in policies and measures.
IPCC 4AR is being widely used by NGOs as a source of information and as
a reference in policy activities as well as in educational and
awareness-raising actions. Slovenian NGOs believe that te most important and
cost-effective measures for reducing GHGs in Slovenia are improvements in
energy efficiency, and that the uptake of renewable energies and improvements
in the transport sector are the next most important steps.
Media coverage of CC
Media picks up climate issues very sporadically, in most cases in
connection with either extreme weather events or important policy developments.
It must be noted, though, that recently this occurs much more often than, for
example, 5 years ago. Some media interest in climate issues was generated
during the Slovenian EU Presidency, when climate was one of the priorities of
the Presidency. Most interest shown by media goes to issues related to European
climate policy processes, especially if there are likely consequences for
industry (e.g. EU ETS) or consumer prices. Much less attention is paid to
international climate negotiations.
There is a discrepancy in the media about the attention given to the
mitigation side of the climate problem and the adaptation to climate change.
Adaptation is much less discussed, almost entirely linked to changing weather
patterns and the need for adaptation in agriculture (e.g. changing crop
seasons, resilience of certain types of crops, hail protection, etc.) and
drinking-water availability.
A lot of information about climate change is available to the public,
but the information is very dispersed. Various web pages contain information on
causes and effects of climate change, policies, ways to take action, etc. It
would be difficult to single out a specific source of information on climate
change in the country, but information can be found on the web page of the
Ministry of Environment as well as on web pages of NGOs active in the field and
those of other actors dealing with the issue.
Policies and Measures
Post-2012 public debate
No public discussion on post-2012 targets
or on any other post-2012 issue has been started in Slovenia. This is likely to
change with the change of the government (expected to be formed in November
2008) and in the run up to Copenhagen COP in 2009.
So far the decisions of the government in
relation to post-2012 were taken without public involvement and limited to the
EU climate and energy package discussions. For the purpose of effective negotiations
on the package, a special intra-governmental working group was established,
including representatives from environmental, transport, economy ministries and
from the governmental office for growth as well as from the Institute for
macroeconomic analysis and development. At this point Slovenia does not have
any comprehensive studies on potentials for GHG reductions up to 2020 and
beyond.
Effort-sharing
According to the European Commission’s
proposal for effort-sharing, Slovenia would be allowed to increase its non-ETS
emissions by 2020 by 4%. This proposal was accepted by the government, with
slight concerns about possible difficulties to achieve it, since most of the
non-ETS emissions are caused by transport which is the most difficult sector to
tackle.
On the other hand NGOs are convinced that
Slovenia should take on stricter targets and decrease its overall emissions of
GHGs by at least 30% by 2020 and at least by 80% by 2050 compared to 1990
levels. Since Slovenia is in a different situation than most of the other new
member states (for example, it does not have any hot air) it does not support
the attempts of some of those countries to weaken the EU climate legislation.
Emissions
trading
Slovenian government considers EU ETS to
be the main pillar of European climate legislation. In this respect it openly
supports the scheme and sees it as a main tool to halt the emissions from big
polluters. In the first phase of EU ETS there was some resistance from industry
as well as heavy lobbying for allocation of allowances, which was more or less
successfully overcome in the preparations of the national allocation plan for
the second phase of the trading scheme. It is possible that some companies
included in the emissions trading scheme have had profits due to
overallocation, but evidence of such cases is not publicly available.
As already stated below NGOs are pushing for at least 30% emissions
reductions by 2020 and at least 80% by 2050. These targets were selected on the
basis of IPPC 4AR, literature on the need to bring down emissions to around 2
Tonnes/capita by 2050 (e.g. Stern report) and the fact that much more ambitious
targets will need to be adopted by all developed countries if we are to achieve
the 2 °C goal. Due to lack of any serious studies/research on the potentials
for GHG-emission reductions and costs of specific measures it is however
difficult to assess the likely economic consequences of achieving these
targets.
NGOs also fear that government is not strong and ambitious enough to
push for higher targets than those already proposed for 2020 in the climate and
energy package. At the same time it is unclear how the public/consumers and
industry might react to self-imposed stricter targets and what consequences
these would have for the price of energy and for the economy in general.
The government itself did not launch any campaigns to inform the public
about ways to reduce the impact on climate change, but it does supports
awareness-raising and information-sharing activities of various stakeholders
(e.g., NGOs) through financing the activities and to some extent providing
expert support.
It also set up a chain of energy advisory centres which provide
information to citizens and businesses on energy-efficiency measures and
renewables. Another way of contributing to the information-sharing and
awareness-raising activities on climate is adoption of appropriate legislation
(e.g., obliging power suppliers to promote energy savings; recently adopted
regulation on energy performance and RES in buildings; etc.). There is however
still space to improve the role of the government in education and in other
promotions of public awareness on climate-related issues.
RES support schemes
The main support mechanism for electricity production from renewable
sources in Slovenia is the feed-in tariff system. The feed-in tariffs are
supposed to be adjusted on a yearly base; the principle of priority dispatch is
introduced. In 2007, e.g., the tariffs for CHP for district heating amounted to
69 EUR/MWh; those for biogas, 121 EUR/MWh; and for solar electricity, 374
EUR/KWh. The producers also have choices:
they may use the electricity produced on the spot of production or they
may sell it on their own. In these cases
they are compensated through premiums for the difference between the guaranteed
feed-in tariff and the market price of the electricity.
Promoting EE
In September 2008 Slovenia adopted regulation of energy efficiency in
buildings[1],
which thus far is the most important legislative measure to promote energy
efficiency and the use of RES in buildings. The regulation includes all the new
buildings and buildings being refurbished. It sets the technical requirements
for efficient use of energy in buildings, such as insulation, heating, cooling,
air conditioning, sanitary water heating and lighting as well as the way to
calculate the energy characteristics of buildings.
Alongside the above-mentioned regulation, a regulation of the promotion
of the efficient use of energy and renewables was also adopted. This regulation
identifies the types of support, beneficiaries and the conditions for support
for EE and RES measures. Support being introduced with these regulations will
be available in the form of state aid for legal entities and individuals
involved in for-profit activities; and as subsidies for households and public
sector.
Apart from that, governmental support programs in the form of subsidies
for EE and RES measures has existed in Slovenia already for some time. There is
also a possibility of obtaining low-interest loans for such measures from Eco
Fund, Slovenian Environmental Public Fund.
EE & RES vs. fossil fuels
Energy-efficiency measures are the most cost-effective measures for
reducing GHGs. Slovenia has a vast potential in this field (buildings,
transport, industry) which should be tackled immediately. Energy-efficiency
improvements are also key for achieving mid- and long-term GHG reduction
targets as well as RES targets by 2020 and beyond (according to the EC
proposal, 25% final energy in 2020 should come from renewables in Slovenia).
NGOs believe that Slovenia should adopt a mandatory energy-efficiency target of
20 % by 2020.
Fossil fuel power plants
Two new fossil-fuel power plants are planned in Slovenia: a new unit in
a thermopower plant Šoštanj (TEŠ 6), 600 MW and a new unit in a thermopower
plant in Trbovlje. The beginning of the construction of the TEŠ 6 has been
postponed until 2014 and the destiny of the new unit in Trbovlje is still
pretty unclear.
Nuclear energy
Slovenia is a nuclear country: The nuclear power plant Krško is located
in Slovenia, but is owned 50:50 by Slovenia and Croatia. The idea of a new unit
of Krško is now being discussed in the public. It was first publicly announced
in the Resolution of national development projects for the 2007 – 2023 period
(adopted by the government in October 2006). The main reasons for the need to
build a new unit of the nuclear power plant, according to the government, are energy
security and reduction of GHGs.