Resource Efficiency Gains and Green Growth Perspectives in Slovakia

Study Resource Efficiency Gains and Green Growth Perspectives in Slovakia ZITA IzAKOVIčOVÁ, JÚLIUS OszLÁNYI, ŠTEFAN LUBY AND MARTINA LUBYOVÁ September 2012 n As Slovakia owns only limited primary energy resources (mainly brown coal), it strongly depends on imports of foreign raw materials (e.g. crude oil). Despite some success in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, long-term reduction targets seem difficult to reach. Energy consumption ranks still high among the EU27 average. Air pollution, chemical and physical degradation of soil assets, water pollution and dam- ages to vegetation are considered the main environmental problems. n Influenced by EU and other international organisations, there is a comprehensive legislative body concerning climate change and energy issues. However, many measures laid out are still not realised and there is no national strategy for greening economic growth. Besides low public awareness, Slovakia faces a number of other obstacles to implement further sustainable legislation: growing social inequalities and governmental passivity. n The main potential for green growth lies in agriculture and in the renewable energy sector. The potential for the large-scale creation of green jobs seems low, as the share of sectors with high potential (especially agriculture) in total employment has been continuously declining. The main obstacles to green growth include: lack of political interest, unclear competences, lack of financial resources, poor innovation and research capacity, inadequate environmental education, insufficient support system for implementation of measures and increasing regional disparities. ZITA IzAKOVIčOVÁ, JÚLIUS OszLÁNYI, ŠTEFAN LUBY AND MARTINA LUBYOVÁ | RESOURCE EFFICIENCY GAINS AND GREEN GROWTH PERspECTIVES IN SLOVAKIA Content Introduction . 2 1 . Current Situation in Slovakia . 2 1.1 Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Production and Pollution of the Environment .........................................2 1.2 The Current Economic Strategy with a View to Developing a Green Economy ........7 1.3 Reserves in Short- and Medium-term Energy Savings and CO2 Emission Reductions (Industry, Housing/Heating, Transport) ..................9 1.4 National Initiatives for Mitigating Climate Change. .11 2 . Prospects of Green Growth and Efficient Use of Resources . 12 2.1 Economic Sectors with the Potential to Produce Green Growth and/or Green Jobs ...12 2.2 Green Manufacturing and Technologies – Production in loco versus Imports ........13 2.3 Knowledge and Innovation: The Current Level of Technological Development .......17 3 . The Role of Politics and Society . 19 3.1 The Depth and Scope of the Public Debate on and Concerns about environmental Development ............................19 3.2 The Role of the State, the Green Growth Strategy and Support for Environmental Objectives. .20 3.3 Policy Guidelines and Regulations Necessary for Rapidly Reducing Energy Losses and Promoting Green Growth ........................22 3.4 Main Barriers in Social Regulation ........................................23 3.5 Role of International and European Standards and Directives in Environmental Policy .23 3.6 Main Societal, Cultural and Political Obstacles to the Creation of a Low-Carbon Economy and Promotion of Green Jobs ...............24 Summary and Conclusions . 25 1 ZITA IzAKOVIčOVÁ, JÚLIUS OszLÁNYI, ŠTEFAN LUBY AND MARTINA LUBYOVÁ | RESOURCE EFFICIENCY GAINS AND GREEN GROWTH PERspECTIVES IN SLOVAKIA Introduction 1. Current Situation in Slovakia Environmental technologies such as renewable energy 1.1 Energy Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas resources, recycling technologies, sustainable transport Production and Pollution of the Environment technologies and the like are increasingly perceived as drivers of future economic growth, as well as sav- In electricity production and consumption, generation ing natural resources and reducing emissions. Green from primary energy resources (PER) remains dominant growth is also gaining prominence in economic and in Slovakia. Slovakia has limited fossil fuel resources, development strategies. The definition of green growth which means that in primary energy resources it de- is changing and expanding in the context of economic pends on imports. The only domestic energy resource development. While older definitions of green growth of significance is brown coal and lignite. Domestic PER were built especially on the growth of a specific eco- cover only about 10 per cent of requirements and thus industry (Janicke 2011), newer definitions define green Slovakia has to purchase the other resources it needs, growth as the mainstream of core economic strategies. which entails a strong dependence on imports. In the This reflects the risks of the continuing degradation of interest of reducing energy dependence on foreign raw the environment from the standpoint of sustainable eco- materials, it is necessary to move towards greater use of nomic growth. The OECD Green Growth Strategy states: energy from renewable resources. »Green growth means fostering economic growth and development, while ensuring that natural assets contin- Currently, total energy consumption in Slovakia is about ue to provide the resources and environmental services 700 petajoules (PJ). PER consumption in Slovakia is still on which our well-being relies« (OECD 2011). about 90 per cent of the EU average. The industry sector, which has substantial energy intensity, has the highest Apart from the merely modest progress achieved over electricity requirement. In Slovakia, its share in energy recent decades, the raw stock intensity of economic consumption is well above the EU27 average, as well as growth in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe above the energy requirements of neighbouring coun- and Central Asia is still high. Although politicians are tries. In 2009, the share of Slovak industry in final energy aware of the looming environmental challenges, it ap- consumption amounted to 38 per cent (in the EU27, the pears difficult to reconcile long-term environmental average industry share was 24.2 per cent ). Consider- sustainability with short-term social pressures and the able energy intensity is also observed in the trade and challenges of catching up with Western Europe. In a se- services sector, at approximately 30 per cent, and in ries of national studies, the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung has transport, where total energy consumption is trending facilitated the examination of conditions for economic upwards (it has increased by as much as 60 per cent development strategies that would depart from high since 2000). However, a number of other sectors have raw material requirements while guaranteeing enough experienced a downward trend in energy consumption jobs to maintain social stability. In this way, they seek to in recent years. Since 2000, consumption has dropped contribute to the development of a green economy that by 15 per cent overall, which is attributed to the nega- is environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive. tive impact of the current crisis. Compared to developed OECD and EU member states, Slovakia also has lower The methodology of the study is based on common electricity consumption per capita (by some 20 per cent). standards. In order to allow international comparability Final electricity consumption in 2002–2010 had a bal- the study uses national and international statistical data. anced trajectory, with slight variations. In 2010, a total of For the sake of international comparability of national 27,720 GWh of electricity was generated, an increase of studies in the FES project framework, the structure and 6 per cent on 2009. In terms of diversification of electric- main body of the study are limited; other more detailed ity generation resources, the largest volumes were pro- examples from the Slovak Republic, as well as technical duced by nuclear power plants, thermal power plants data and overviews can be found in the annexes. and hydroelectric power plants, in that order. Despite an upward trend, electricity generation from renewable energy resources (RER) is still low in Slovakia. In 2009, 2 ZITA IzAKOVIčOVÁ, JÚLIUS OszLÁNYI, ŠTEFAN LUBY AND MARTINA LUBYOVÁ | RESOURCE EFFICIENCY GAINS AND GREEN GROWTH PERspECTIVES IN SLOVAKIA the share of electricity produced from RER amounted to counted for 43,426.07 Gg CO2 equivalents (excluding 18.8 per cent. It will be necessary to increase this share the LULUCF sector). Total greenhouse gas emissions in- in the future. cluding captures from land use and forestry sectors (LU- LUCF) in 2009 were 39,977.06 Gg CO2 equivalents (the Slovakia has adopted a national target of increasing the captures amounted to 3,449.01 Gg CO2). This represent- share of renewables in gross final energy consumption ed a reduction of 41.44 per cent compared to the ref- from 6.7 per cent in 2005 to 14 per cent in 2020. The erence year 1990. Compared to 2008, greenhouse gas share of energy from renewable energy resources is emissions dropped by almost 10 per cent. The reasons gradually growing. The use of biomass energy (nearly 70 for this decline are mainly the impact of the crisis and the per cent) now accounts for the highest proportion. The subsequent economic recession. By sector, energy and energy potential of biomass is shown in Table 1. transport account for 66.1 per cent (of which transport represents 21.6 per cent) and remain the most impor- tant. The agricultural sector accounted for 7 per cent Table 1: The energy potential of biomass use of emissions and the waste

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