Reflection on How Slovakia Can Achieve Carbon Neutrality by 2050

My collaboration with the Forecasting Institute of the Slovak Academy of Sciences began during my tenure at the Ministry of Economy of the Slovak Republic. It was initially focused on electromobility and later expanded to research on energy poverty. I wrote about the results of the study on Electromobility and Energy Consumption here and will cover energy poverty in another blog. Now, allow me a few words about our collaboration on an interesting exercise we carried out in 2022 discussing how Slovakia can achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.

Článok v slovenčine: Zamyslenie nad spôsobom, ako môže Slovensko dosiahnuť uhlíkovú neutralitu do roku 2050

Using the ‘2050 Pathways Explorer’ model, we examined potential measures in various sectors in the first half of 2022 – from buildings, transportation, energy, to industry and agriculture. We have created our own scenario to achieve carbon neutrality in Slovakia by 2050 in line with the EU’s goal. The result is that it will be challenging. 🙂 Among the measures in each sector, I highlight the obvious ones, but repeating them will help us.

• Improving building efficiency and modernizing heating systems
• Transition to electromobility and improvements in public transportation
• Shifting towards renewable energy sources in the energy sector
• Utilizing technological advancements to increase efficiency in the industrial sector
• Implementing sustainable practices and methods in agriculture to reduce emissions, such as better land utilization and livestock management.

Each of the sectors will have to undergo important changes to help our country achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Carbon neutrality is not only a challenge for our country, but it is also an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure a comfortable life for future generations and the living beings with whom we share this world.

The study can be downloaded from the Forecasting Institute of SAS website and it also includes a direct link to the continuously improving 2050 Pathways Explorer model, which can be interacted with.