Environment Ministry to Allocate €317 mn from Recovery plan to Three Firms
The Environment Ministry will distribute €317 million from the recovery plan for green investments among three companies, caretaker Environment Minister Milan Chrenko announced at a news conference on Monday.
Bratislava, June 5 (TASR) - The Environment Ministry will distribute €317 million from the recovery plan for green investments among three companies, caretaker Environment Minister Milan Chrenko announced at a news conference on Monday.
The money will go to U.S. Steel Kosice, Danucem Slovensko in Turna nad Bodvou (Kosice region) and Wienerberger Slovenske Tehelne.
"Thanks to the implementation of these projects, Slovakia will reduce emissions by more than 3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2026 at the latest," said Chrenko. This is comparable to the amount of greenhouse gas emissions produced by half a million Slovaks annually, he added.
Of the total sum, U.S. Steel Kosice will receive €300 million for a project involving the decarbonisation of steel production by installing electric furnaces. Danucem Slovensko met the criteria with its gray cement decarbonisation project worth approximately €8.4 million, and Wienerberger will also receive €8.4 million for the decarbonisation of production at its brickworks.
The implementation of the projects will bring a reduction equalling a fifth of all emissions released into the air in Slovakia last year by companies that have joined the emission-quota trading system. At the same time, the saving to be achieved is 2.5-times higher than the investment goal included in the Recovery and Resilience Plan, stated the minister.
Vice-premier for Recovery and Resilience Plan and EU Funds Use Livia Vasakova said that this is the biggest call from the recovery plan. "We believe that thanks to this we'll show that industry is able to operate competitively partly thanks to technologies that contribute towards a better environment," she said.
According to Vasakova, over €2.4 billion from the recovery plan will go on green measures. The call under the recovery plan is part of a state-aid scheme to decarbonise industry. It was announced on November 25, 2022 and concluded on January 20, 2023.
