Slovenia Adopts 9 Percent CO2 Quota Cut in 2008-12
Date: 27-Oct-06
Country: SLOVENIA
"The plan will be sent to the respective European Union body and to other EU members today or tomorrow," Minister of Environment Janez Podobnik told a news conference.
In line with an earlier draft, the government would allocate an annual 8.3 million tonnes of CO2 from 2008-12, a cut from the first phase quota from 2005-07, which was 9.1 million tonnes per year, according to European Commission figures.
The European Commission earlier this month started legal action against Slovenia and seven other states for failing to submit plans that allocate how much CO2 their industrial sector may emit in 2008-12.
The plans, which have to be approved by the European Commission, were due by the end of June but most states were late.
The EU trading scheme is the bloc's key strategy on climate change, and is supposed to help it meet its greenhouse gas emissions limits under the Kyoto Protocol.
In Slovenia, the annual number of allowances set aside for new industrial plants entering the scheme will reach 130,996 tonnes of CO2 or a bit less than the 133,000 tonnes proposed earlier this year. In 2005-07 allowances set aside amount to 66,000 tonnes per year.
Podobnik said emmission targets were threatened by a fast increase in traffic in Slovenia and the rest of the EU.
"If traffic continues to rise at an unchanged rate in the EU and in Slovenia, it is a question whether we will be able to meet the planned cut in CO2 emissions," he said.
Traffic in Slovenia accounts for some 26 percent of total CO2 emissions, up from 12 percent in 1986.
