Environment Ministry

Ljubljana, 15 March – The Infrastructure Ministry has launched a public consultation on the draft national strategy to phase out coal and restructure the country’s two coal regions. The document applies to Savinja-Šalek, which has coal-fired power station TEŠ and a coal mine, and to Zasavje, where there are no longer any active mines or thermal plants.

Ljubljana – Human Rights Ombudsman Peter Svetina has voiced criticism over the procedure in which the Environment and Spatial Planning Ministry wants to change the environmental protection act. The ministry’s actions are not in line with modern democratic standards, which has recently become an established modus operandi of the ministry, the ombudsman says.

Ljubljana – The Administrative Court has temporarily stayed the issuing of construction permit for the Mokrice hydro plant on the Sava river, the NGO Slovenian Native Fish Association (DPRS) said on Tuesday. The power producer HESS, which is to operate the plant, told the STA the procedure could continue as only the issuing of the permit had been suspended.

A fire that broke out at a high-voltage power station in western Attica on Sunday night did not have any serious impact on the atmosphere, according to a team of Environment Ministry inspectors that visited the site on Monday, but several other problems were noted.

There has been no serious atmospheric burden as a result of the fire that broke out at a high-voltage power station in a suburb of Attica on Sunday night that led to power outages in Athens and Piraeus as well as areas of the Peloponnese peninsula, according to a team of Environment Ministry inspectors that visited the site on Monday.

The Environment Ministry's updated maps of Greece's designated forestland are due to start going online Friday, even though two challenges against the new delineations are pending at the Council of State, the country's highest administrative court.

Ljubljana – Environmental NGOs warn that proposed changes to the environmental protection and spatial planning acts would exclude them from key relevant procedures and scrap legislative safeguards. Without the latter an irreparable damage could be caused regarding the environment and public health, they said Tuesday.

The completion of the national cadastre has been officially postponed until 2024. According to the Environment Ministry, the reason for the delay is not only the coronavirus restrictions, but also the low participation of people in some areas in the effort to digitally register their properties.

Ljubljana – The government and environmental NGO have welcomed the EU summit’s decision to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 by at least 55%. The Environment Ministry believes the goal is realistic, whereas the NGOs would like it even more ambitious. A climatologist meanwhile says that for a true global impact, the EU should get China and the US on board.

Ljubljana – Environment Minister Andrej Vizjak met President Borut Pahor on Monday ahead of the nearing fifth anniversary of signing of the Paris Agreement. The pair agreed on closer cooperation between the ministry and Pahor’s permanent advisory committee on climate change.