BRATISLAVA, September 17, (WEBNOVINY) — On behalf of 26 NGOs, Greenpeace Slovakia on Monday issued a demand for Prime Minister Robert Fico asking his government to cancel its resolution on support for coal mining with the use of proceeds from auctions of CO2 emission allowances (AAU). Spokeswoman for Greenpeace Slovakia Lucia Szabova told SITA news agency that instead the NGOs call for support for the creation of green jobs, particularly by creating a program on energy conservation and use of renewable energy sources. According the NGOs, such support should be directed mainly to critical regions that are negatively affected by brown coal mining.
„We fundamentally disagree that the Slovak Republic use funds obtained from polluters to support an increase in greenhouse gas emissions,“ said Greenpeace climate campaign coordinator Pavol Siroky. In accordance with the European Commission’s directive, money from the new emissions trading scheme in the years 2013 to 2020 should be primarily used for measures leading to a further reduction of CO2 emissions. These include energy saving, renewable energy projects, and adaptation to ongoing climate change. „Supporting combustion of coal from this money is absurd and goes against the basic logic of emissions trading,“ said Siroky.
The NGOs demand that instead of pointless support for coal business, the Slovak government directs these funds into the program that Greenpeace in July presented the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Economy. „The program aims to promote energy savings, especially by thermal insulation of homes and public buildings,“ Szabova said. She believes that the program would has the potential to create about ten thousand jobs, improve the social situation of approximately 200,000 households, and reduce consumption of primary energy sources by three to four percent. A similar program using money from AAU trading in Germany was able to create more than 200,000 jobs and in the Czech Republic about 19,000 jobs.
SITA
