The Carbon Dinosaur in Slovenia

In the beginning of the 90s there was a sharp fall of the amounts of CO2 emissions, but in 2000 the emissions were already back to previous levels. The Slovene per capita CO2 emissions are now roughly at the EU average. The most important source of emissions (about 30% of all the emissions) are the five coal powered electricity and heat producers. The second large source of emissions is the transport sector, which contributes 20%. Closely behind the transport sector is the household and commercial sector, emitting about 17% of the GHGs in Slovenia. An important indirect contributor to climate change is the aluminium factory Talum with its high electricity needs.

The main barrier to the path of low emission economy is the strong energy lobby, which is still supporting the myth that high energy use is good for development. Energy intensity of Slovene economy is more than two times higher than the EU average. Lack of firm and sustainability oriented energy and transport policies, together with the inadequate support to renewables are some of the corner stones for the survival of the energy lobby myths.

At the moment the future prospects are not too bright: the government supports construction of windmills in nature protected areas, the proposed NAP is allocating more than enough free emission allowances, the idea of constructing another nuclear power plant to combat emissions is one of the leading tools on the table and the newly adopted National Energy Programme pushes the closure date of the outdated coal power plants further into future. As the main promoter of the listed developments is the Ministry of Environment, Spatial Planning and Energy, the Carbon Dinosaur will visit it during its stay in Slovenia. The Dinosaur will also be placed on the central square of Ljubljana to attract the attention of the Slovene people to the negative developments and call for their action to destroy the energy fossils.

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