Interim Environment Minister Jan Budaj on Monday presented Slovakia's first Climate Bill, which envisages, for instance, the filing of climate lawsuits against the state and the creation of a climate council tasked with checking individual ministries in terms of meeting climate goals. According to State Secretary Michal Kica, the bill entails a correction mechanism. "We're setting an innovative element here, namely that if we do not meet the targets we set ourselves, and as a result the Slovak Republic has to buy lost emission allowances from other partners, it will be the responsibility of the ministry concerned," explained Kica. Milan Zvara, head of the climate change and air protection department at the Environment Ministry, said that the bill would include goals for ministries. "Most climate-change policies are not made at our ministry. They are made at other ministries over which we have zero influence. The aim of this bill is to have an impact on other ministries and somehow voluntarily give them an incentive to meet their goals," he stated, adding that the targets should concern transport, buildings, agriculture, land use and industrial processes. Slovakia has a chance to adopt a strong and high-quality climate law that will help the country achieve carbon neutrality. According to non-governmental organisations, the draft contains most of the elements needed to improve climate protection in Slovakia. However, they say the law has insufficient emission reduction targets and omits the European Emissions Trading Scheme sector from the scope of the law. TASR was informed about this by the coordinator of the Climate Coalition Lucia Szabová. The Climate Law covers the basic principles of climate protection. Setting targets for individual sectors, their subsequent control and enforceability are reflected in a number of good mechanisms. Climate organisations: Klimatická koalícia, Via Iuris, Priatelia Zeme-CEPA a Klíma ťa potrebuje have agreed on this. The organizations are now preparing comments on the proposed law to make final tweaks to the law. At the same time, the organizations are calling on President Zuzana Čaputová to take an active interest in the process of drafting the law.
Source: TASR
