Renewables are the only solution to the crisis, Greenpeace Slovakia says

Renewables are the only solution to the crisis, Greenpeace Slovakia says

Greenpeace Slovakia calls on the government to immediately start promoting energy consumption reduction, increasing energy efficiency and to finally start developing the use of renewable energy sources. According to environmentalists, this is the only way to help Slovakia get rid of its dependence on fossil gas.

More than 30 activists from Greenpeace Slovakia created a 20-metre high symbol of the sun on the Main Square in Bratislava with the message "Renewable solutions! When, if not now?" Greenpeace wanted to draw attention to the critical situation in which the country finds itself. According to the NGO, Slovakia needs to invest immediately in renewable energy sources and in reducing consumption. The organisation also published numerical estimates of how measures could reduce or replace gas consumption in the country.

“We are experiencing an energy crisis. Ordinary people are facing huge increases in energy prices and we are all anxious about whether we will have enough gas for the winter. In addition, we are already feeling the effects of the climate crisis first-hand - prolonged droughts or high heat are already making our lives difficult in June and forecasts predict an unusually hot summer ahead of us. The common denominator of these problems is gas. We must immediately reduce energy consumption and massively develop renewable sources. It was already too late yesterday," said Dorota Osvaldová, Climate Campaign Coordinator at Greenpeace Slovakia.

Investments in the renovation of buildings or sustainable heating (heat pumps, solar collectors) and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, geothermal or wind energy would help to reduce gas consumption while addressing the climate, energy and social crisis. The use of geothermal energy alone could replace around 15-35% of annual gas consumption and 300 000 heat pumps could replace around 6.8% of annual gas consumption. At a renovation rate of 30,000 buildings per year, Slovakia could reduce energy consumption by almost 4TWh by 2030.

"The solutions that will reduce Slovakia's dependence on fossil gas and ensure energy independence are here. Every euro and every cent must go into reducing consumption, increasing energy efficiency and investing massively in renewable energy. The government's false solutions of building LNG terminals or absurdly expanding gas production do not solve the crisis at all. They only make it worse," Osvaldová adds.

Greenpeace calls for a phase-out of fossil gas use by 2035 if the world is to meet the Paris Agreement targets and keep warming below 1.5°C. According to a November 2021 poll prepared for Greenpeace by AKO, nearly 70% of people support a phase-out of fossil gas by 2035 in favour of renewables.

For more information, please contact:

Dorota Osvaldová, Climate Campaign Coordinator, Greenpeace Slovakia, dorota.osvaldova@greenpeace.org , tel. 0908 702 363