Slovenia
Political commitments, strategies and tools
Slovenia’s political commitments
In 2017, the National Assembly of the Slovenia adopted a Resolution on Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance of the Republic of Slovenia (2017 Resolution), a long-term strategic document, which defines two general thematic priorities for development co-operation and humanitarian aid, one of them being the “fight against climate change, focused on the sustainable management of natural and energy resources”.
Targets
In 2018, the Slovenian government adopted the Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Aid Strategy of the Republic of Slovenia until 2030 (2018 Strategy). The 2018 Strategy sets a target of 35% of country programmable aid (CPA) for climate-related interventions (mitigation and adaptation, marker score 1 or 2) by 2022 and 40% by 2030. The target for environmental protection is set to 50% of CPA by 2022 and 60% of CPA by 2030. The progress is tracked every year in the framework of an annual report on development co-operation and humanitarian aid (level in a given year and trend compared to the previous year). The Annual Report 2019 is available in Slovene language; see Annex 11, e.g. Share of CPA for climate interventions:
Strategies and policies for systematic integration
The 2018 Strategy sets the fight against climate change and adaptation to it (Sustainable Development Goal [SDG] 13) as one of four thematic priorities of development co-operation. One of the humanitarian priorities (the preventive arm) is to guarantee a stable supply of drinking water and safe, adequate and good-quality food, especially for children, which is also closely linked to adaptation to climate change. At the project level, this is, for example, pursued through awareness-raising and supply of seeds which are resilient and adapted to extreme weather conditions.
The 2018 Strategy also states that environmental protection, including climate change, are to be mainstreamed through development co-operation and humanitarian aid.
The methodology, used since April 2019, to assess project proposals to be financed from the official development assistance (ODA) budget, takes this into account and scores development and humanitarian projects according to their contribution to environmental protection, mitigation and adaptation to climate change (plus gender equality). Guidelines for implementing partners on this aspect of project design, implementation and monitoring have been drafted and discussed in workshops.
Additionally, the 2018 Strategy provides general directions for financing institutions and implementing partners on how to mainstream environment and climate change (besides gender equality) and it places the crosscutting themes in the general framework, right after the development co-operation and humanitarian aid principles. It also lists measures to be taken to promote mainstreaming (see the 2018 Strategy, Chapter 3.3).
Furthermore, a comprehensive approach to water in development and humanitarian action was set as a priority for the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2021, placing a significant weight on environment and climate change considerations and their interlinkages with access to sufficient and adequate supply of (drinking) water, which is also of key importance in the current health crisis.
In this respect, several official statements were given, for example the recent State Secretary’s Raščan presentation of priorities of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the European Parliament on 13 July 2021.
Key provisions and pillars
Key provisions and pillars of the 2018 Strategy on environment protection and climate change mainstreaming include:
awareness-raising among diverse financing institutions and implementing partners
partnerships among implementing partners to promote mainstreaming
preferential treatment of activities with positive impacts on environment/climate/gender
exchange of best practices and knowledge, adoption of guidelines
allocation of earmarked voluntary contributions to international organisations.
Note: “Other environmental markers” include biodiversity, environment and desertification that do not overlap with mitigation and adaptation. Biodiversity-related ODA is integrated in the columns, as well as presented separately for better visibility.
Source: OECD (2021), Creditor Reporting System (database), https://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode=crs1
Operational tools for systematic integration
General directions are contained in the 2018 Strategy and the guidelines on mainstreaming environment protection into development co-operation and humanitarian aid projects have been drafted. The draft includes the climate change aspect of environmental protection and provides practical tools for the financing and implementing institutions for the integration of environment protection and climate change considerations in the planning, design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning frameworks
The integration of environment and climate objectives has been foreseen by the 2018 Strategy, and has been monitored by the individual contract caretakers. The evaluation of the mainstreaming has been planned for 2021 as part of the annual evaluations, starting with gender mainstreaming, and should be followed by other mainstreaming priorities in the coming years.
Supporting national transition plans that are commensurate with international objectives
In 2019, a study was commissioned to identify possibilities for Slovenia’s support to partner countries in the Western Balkans in the area of climate change. The study includes interventions in the policy area (strategy setting, regional networking for exchange of knowledge and best practices) and in implementation (co-financing of climate change interventions of the partner countries). Concrete interventions based on the options, identified in the study, are yet to be implemented. The consultations are progressing particularly well with Montenegro. Nevertheless, individual mitigation and adaptation projects, based on the partner countries’ own national transition strategies have already taken place in the last few years, e.g. Afforestation in the Municipality of Erseke (Albania), Installation of energy-saving light-emitting diodes (LED) lighting in several municipalities (Republic of North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia), Sustainable Forest Management in Adigeni Municipality in co-operation with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) (Georgia), and construction of wetlands for natural treatment of wastewaters in different municipalities (Albania, Kosovo).
Examples of projects to support national transition plans
The implementation of the interventions, foreseen or suggested in the study, prepared in 2019, was stalled, also due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, so currently such examples cannot be reported. Slovenia, however, stands ready to respond to bilateral requests from partner countries for technical assistance, also in the framework of alignment of the standards with the European Union. So far, no such requests have been received.
Implementing the transition to environmentally sustainable, low-emissions and climate-resilient development pathways
Slovenia bases its development co-operation strategy on niches. In order to limit its focus to selected areas, it set two general priorities in the 2017 Resolution (one focused on socio-economic development and the other on environment) and four priority SDGs in the 2018 Strategy, of which two are environment-specific. One (SDG 12) focuses on sustainable production and consumption patterns and builds around the circular economy concept, and the other (SDG 13) focuses on climate. Combined with mainstreaming of environment protection and climate change, as well as with a legal ban (defined in a decree) to finance programmes or projects that contribute to an increased use of fossil fuels, it sends a message regarding its approach to supporting the development pathways of its partner countries.
The study mentioned in previous sections that set out the opportunities and possible modalities to support partner countries in the Western Balkans in their climate change policies and interventions builds on this general development co-operation framework and upgrades it in the climate change area.
Support for sustainable, quality infrastructure
Slovenia has a relatively long track record of co-financing environmental infrastructure, especially in the Western Balkan countries. This ranges from design and construction of waste-sorting plants; construction of wetlands for treatment of wastewaters; sustainable remediation of a waste landfill; design and rehabilitation of dumpsites; setting up a methodology to assess quality infrastructure for small hydropower plants and other renewable energy sources; setting up a methodology to evaluate infrastructure for providing for wind renewable energy technologies, and a methodology to evaluate infrastructure for quality assurance for photovoltaic renewable energy technologies; piloting of decentralised composting models for alternative management of organic waste; to automation of primary heat stations and reconstruction of public lighting.
Examples of projects in support of environmentally sustainable, low-emissions and climate-resilient transitions
Design and Construction of Wetlands in Andrijevica, Montenegro.
Construction of Wetlands in Prrenjas, Albania.
Modernisation and Reconstruction of Public Lightning System in the Municipality of Žabljak, Montenegro.
Sustainable Forest Management in Adigeni Municipality, Georgia.
More Efficient Resource Use to Ensure Sustainable Survival in the District of Karongi, Rwanda.
Empowerment of Female Refugees - Say NO to Inequality, Vulnerability and Poverty, Uganda.
Sustainable Management of Water and Other Resources towards Better Health and Life Conditions in the Karongi District, Rwanda.
Water, Hygiene, Food for Decent Life of Darfur People, Sudan.
Responding to the particular needs of SIDS
In the last decade, Slovenia co-operated with Cabo Verde, where it implemented an e-Health and Telemedicine project, one of the biggest projects in Sub-Saharan Africa financed by Slovenia so far. Other than that, Slovenia’s limited reach of bilateral development co-operation has not provided much space for specific climate-change-oriented co-operation with Small Islands Developing States (SIDS). In this respect, Slovenia relies on the multilateral system, and as a member of a variety of international organisations and international finance institutions, e.g. the European Union, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) and the Green Climate Fund, among others, contributes to the policy setting and financing of climate-specific interventions in SIDS.