Report shows Slovenia must make climate neutrality top priority

Ljubljana – Slovenia can achieve climate neutrality by the middle of the 21st century if it makes cutting greenhouse gas emissions and transition to climate neutrality a top priority and if it immediately enhances implementation of climate measures, says the Climate Mirror 2021 report.

The latest Climate Mirror also says that the country’s attainment of the set goals in 2020 was “encouraging”, as the country will meet two of the three binding goals.

It will achieve the goal in emissions from sources which are not part of the EU emissions trading scheme.

Emissions from these sources dropped by 2% in 2019 and were 11.9% below the goal for 2020, says the report, a collaboration of the Centre for Energy Efficiency at the Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) and partners in the LIFE Climate Path 2050 project.

The goal in energy efficiency will also be met, as primary energy consumption fell in 2019 for the second year in a row, this time by 1.8% to 6% below the 2020 target.

On the other hand, the goal for renewables will not be met. In 2020, their share in gross end energy consumption was at 22%, 3 percentage points below the goal for 2020.

And since 2010 the share increased by a mere 1.6 points, the Climate Mirror notes.

“It’s encouraging that we will meet two of the three binding goals in 2020, but this is too little from the aspect of the goals for 2030 and from the aspect of transition to climate neutrality,” said Barbara Petelin Visočnik from the IJS’s centre.

She said the goals for 2020 were not ambitious enough because they had been set when there had been still no broad political consensus on a more resolute and faster action against the global climate crisis.

To successfully mitigate the impact of climate change, Slovenia should make cutting greenhouse gas emissions and transition to climate neutrality top national political, developmental and implementation priorities, she said.

This should be accompanied by adequate organisation and an adequate number of trained staff at agencies working on climate change.

Climate measures should be integrated into sectoral and horizontal programmes and financial plans, and implementation and monitoring of climate measures should be suitably upgraded, said Petelin Visočnik.

The Climate Mirror says that meeting ambitious goals in 2030 and implementing the measures more intensively until then is critical for transition to climate neutrality.

Implementing climate measures is also important for job creation and as a contribution to a more independent, flexible, resilient and healthy society.

It is also a blueprint for a successful green recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, the centre also said.

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