If Slovenia opts to pursue full decarbonisation by 2045, the green transition of the country’s industry could be endangered and closures could result, the Slovenian chamber of commerce and industry (GZS) said on Tuesday.

Slovenian industrial companies require “time, additional (public) funds and, above all, new technologies that are not yet available” to decarbonise, GZS said in a response to the country’s new climate law proposal.

The latest version drafted by the energy ministry contains an earlier climate neutrality target date for Slovenia (2045) than that in the first proposal (2050).

While GZS sees Slovenia’s contribution to the fight against climate change as important, it also thinks it is “negligible from the point of view of the global climate”.

“So, it does not make sense for our country to overtake the joint efforts of the EU in achieving this goal,” GZS said in a press release, noting that the EU set a climate neutrality target year of 2050 in its Green Deal.

“Shutting down Slovenian industry would not contribute to the global state of the climate in any way, but would only threaten the socio-economic development in the country,” it added.

Fossil fuel subsidies

NGOs, on the other hand, welcome a more ambitious decarbonisation target. According to Taj Zavodnik, head of energy programme at Slovenian NGO Focus, this is “definitely a step in the right direction”, although “still far from what science calls us to do – to achieve climate neutrality by 2040 at the latest and to reduce emissions by at least 65% by 2030”.

However, the new target could be difficult to achieve as the abolition of fossil fuel subsidies has been postponed..

“It is unacceptable and economically harmful to continue to subsidise the fossil fuel age, while the world around us is moving towards a low-carbon future,” Umanotera’s Jonas Sonnenschein told Montel.

The energy ministry told Montel that it still plans to abolish fossil fuel subsidies, but at a later time than originally foreseen in January 2026, as “it is important that the state prepares the appropriate preconditions for this step”.

These include ensuring that renewables and other alternative low-carbon sources, as well as energy storage technologies, are sufficiently developed, competitive and affordable to replace fossil fuels, the ministry added.