Towards sustainability and climate neutrality – new challenge for Slovakia

Undoubtedly, the biggest global challenge today is the climate change, which is transforming the world and increasing the risks of instability in all its forms. The impact of global warming caused by greenhouse gases is changing our environment and is also linked to the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. We are already witnessing an increased incidence of floods, heat waves, heavy rains, forest fires or the disappearance of glaciers. In addition, air pollution and a low level of protection of ecosystems already have visible negative effects and will cause serious environmental, economic and health problems in the future. In view of this, it is absolutely essential to make a concerted effort to mitigate climate change and adapt to its effects. Reaching climate neutrality in 2050 has become a crucial challenge for all countries, especially for the EU member states. In some developed countries, emissions are relatively decreasing, but these countries are also historically most responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. In turn, the sharp increase of emissions in developing countries is often linked to outsourcing and global patterns of production and consumption. The Slovak Republic has committed itself to achieving the goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Although greenhouse gas emissions in Slovakia decreased by 45.6% between 1990 and 2019 and decreased by 5.2% year-on-year (2018-2019), further efforts will be needed to meet the long-term goals. In this paper we focus on the assessment of approaches and activities of the Slovak Republic towards sustainability and climate neutrality. To achieve the main objective, an analysis of documents (at global, EU and national level) declaring different approaches and ways to achieve climate neutrality was used, complemented by assessments of the current status and trends in GHG emissions and economic performance of the Slovak Republic. There is also presented a case study – an assessment of the possibilities of climate commitments implementation in Slovakia.