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The Carbon Dinosaur in Slovakia

In a nutshell

Slovakian per capita emissions have reached EU level and continue to grow. Renewable energy sources are not tapped mostly because the political will to do so is missing, after coal fired power plants and the industry behind it has received a high level of support that has cemented dependence on their energy.

Dates in Slovakia


>>	15 September 04 City of Bratislava Slovakian Economy Minister receiving the shameful climate killer prize. He won the award for scrapping incentive measures for investments in renewable energies and promoting nuclear and fossil fuel based electricity production. Under these conditions Slovakia will not able to meet its pre-accession promises to produce 31% of electricity from renewables by 2010. Following a proposal from the Ministry of Economy, Slovakia lowered the goal to 19%, which is almost the current level.

>>	17 September 04 City of Kosice A stand-in for the Slovakian Economy Minister Pavol Rusko receiving the shameful climate killer prize. On the morning of the action day, someone with the intention to do the minister a favour sent out a faked FoE Slovakia press release, saying FoE distances itself from the action. As it seems, this someone is afraid of informing the public in how far Economy Minister Pavol Rusko is undermining sustainable development in Slovakia.
To find out more about the Carbon Dinosaur in Slovakia and when and where to meet it, please refer to the contact details on the right.

Carbon dioxide emissions in Slovakia are fairly high, more than eight tonnes per capita. The largest amounts of this gas are produced by burning fossil fuels in the energy and transport sectors. The energy sector itself produced as far as 83 % of the total emissions of CO2 in 1994.

In addition to the fact that Slovakia committed to meet all its Kjoto targets, the country set for itself an internal goal: 20 % reduction of emissions until 2005 in comparison with 1988. Today, the Slovakian government does not recognise this target any more but prefers to stick with the (weaker) targets of the Kyoto treaty.

Renewables have a share of only about 3 % of the total energy production. Most of the energy acquired via renewable sources stems from the water energy sector, mainly from large hydropower dams.

The future of renewable energy is gloomy in Slovakia. There is abundant potential, but political will is missing to tap these resources. It is evident, that without support the coal and nuclear industries have got, they would never acquire the level of their present development.

By our actions with the Carbon Dinosaur we will draw public attention to Slovakian dependence on fossil fuels and insufficient using of renewables. Related to this, we will ask our government to make positive changes. Friends of the Earth Slovakia are working on a pilot project on using of biomass for heating of municipal buildings. For this positive example we will try to get support. In the frame of the Dinosaur tour we will visit the two biggest cities of Slovakia: Bratislava and Kosice.

Contact

>>	Contact in Slovakia: Priatelia Zeme Stefan Janco Komenskeho 21 97401 Banska Bystrica Slovakia p +421-48-4123859

Links

>>	17 September 04: Pavol Rusko je cerstvým drzitel'om klimatického dinosaura

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