Clean Air Dialogue between the Commission and Slovakia promotes actions for cleaner air

On 24 and 25 April the Commission held a Clean Air Dialogue with Slovakia to promote actions to improve air quality and contribute to Slovakia's compliance with EU air quality rules. The dialogue focused on the main challenges Slovakia faces -emissions from the burning of solid fuel in homes, emissions from agriculture, transport and industry. The need for robust air quality monitoring and air pollution data, and integrated policy making across levels of governance were also discussed.

While emissions of several air pollutants have decreased significantly since 1990, air pollution continues to give cause for concern and has a significant impact on the health of Slovakians. The European Environment Agency estimates that around 5,000 premature deaths in Slovakia are linked to air pollution. Estimates also indicate that bad air quality has health-related costs in Slovakia of over €3 billion per year, including the loss of 1.3 million workdays per year.

The main conclusions of the dialogue:

• - 

  The commitment of the Slovak Government to upgrade its air quality monitoring network by the end of 2019, and to invest €25 million in its improvements, is essential for better monitoring data for public information and planning.
• - 

  As domestic solid fuel combustion is the main source of particulate matter emissions, more targeted actions are needed to promote the use of cleaner fuels and technologies, in parallel with promoting energy efficiency of buildings in line with broader energy and climate priorities.
• - 

  Agricultural development will need to be accompanied by a strategy to reduce ammonia emissions. The first national air pollution control programme to be finalised in 2019 under the EU National Emission Ceilings Directive will provide an opportunity for Slovakia to do just that and to make use of all available EU funding support mechanisms.
• - 

  While there is already a focus in Slovakia on clean transportation, e-mobility and sustainable urban mobility planning, there is also a need for short term measures to reduce emissions from existing vehicles, especially in urban areas. To achieve this, a range of possible tools exists including low emissions zones, fiscal incentives such as fuel and vehicle taxation, and retrofitting schemes. They should be further explored.
• - 

  Learning from the experiences of other Member States is very relevant. It is positive that Slovakia has taken the lead on two workshops on emissions from agriculture and domestic heating using funding from the EIR peer-to-peer tool.
• - 

  Industrial emissions need to be addressed through implementation of relevant EU rules. These reduction efforts need to be intregrated into National Air Pollution Control Programmes using synergies with the EU Energy Union and the Coal-Regions-in-Transition initiative. Particular attention will need to be paid to the prioritisation of cost-effective measures.

Background

Recent reports - including the annual air quality report published by the European Environment Agency - show that despite some successes in curbing air pollution, Member States have not succeeded in reducing significantly the high number of premature deaths from air pollution in the EU (more than 400,000 in 2014).

The Environmental Implementation Review (EIR) reconfirmed that air quality is a particularly challenging policy area for many Member States. Therefore the Commission has started a series of Clean Air Dialogues, to facilitate the implementation of air policies, and share knowledge and lessons learned from the experiences of other Member States.

A peer-to-peer tool funded by the European Commission allows frontrunners to provide tailored support to other Member States and encourage mutual learning and exchange of best practices through expert missions, study visits and workshops supported by the Commission.

More information:

EIR - Slovakian country report

Shared conclusions from the dialogue will be posted here as soon as available.