COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 2025 Environmental Implementation Review Country Report - SLOVAKIA Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2025 Environmental Implementation Review for prosperity and security
Date: 2025-07-07
Institutions: Directorate-General for Environment, European Commission
Subjects: EU environmental policy, Slovakia, application of EU law, biodiversity, circular economy, climate change policy, environmental law, governance, pollution control measures, waste management

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 7.7.2025  SWD(2025) 323 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT 2025 Environmental Implementation Review         Country Report - SLOVAKIA                 Accompanying the document Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions 2025 Environmental Implementation Review for prosperity and security {COM(2025) 420 final} - {SWD(2025) 300 final} - {SWD(2025) 301 final} - {SWD(2025) 302 final} - {SWD(2025) 303 final} - {SWD(2025) 304 final} - {SWD(2025) 305 final} - {SWD(2025) 306 final} - {SWD(2025) 307 final} - {SWD(2025) 308 final} - {SWD(2025) 309 final} - {SWD(2025) 310 final} - {SWD(2025) 311 final} - {SWD(2025) 312 final} - {SWD(2025) 313 final} - {SWD(2025) 314 final} - {SWD(2025) 315 final} - {SWD(2025) 316 final} - {SWD(2025) 317 final} - {SWD(2025) 318 final} - {SWD(2025) 319 final} - {SWD(2025) 320 final} - {SWD(2025) 321 final} - {SWD(2025) 322 final} - {SWD(2025) 324 final} - {SWD(2025) 325 final} - {SWD(2025) 326 final}  
 
 
Slovakia  2 

Contents 

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 3 

PART I: THEMATIC AREAS ...................................................................................................................................... 4 

1. CIRCULAR ECONOMY AND WASTE MANAGEMENT ....................................................................................................... 4 
Transitioning to a circular economy ..................................................................................................................... 4 
Waste management ............................................................................................................................................. 6 
2. BIODIVERSITY AND NATURAL CAPITAL .................................................................................................................... 13 
Global and EU biodiversity frameworks ............................................................................................................. 13 
Nature protection and restoration – Natura 2000 ............................................................................................. 14 
Recovery of species ............................................................................................................................................ 15 
Recovery of ecosystems ..................................................................................................................................... 18 
Prevention and management of invasive alien species ...................................................................................... 21 
Ecosystem assessment and accounting ............................................................................................................. 22 
3. ZERO POLLUTION .............................................................................................................................................. 24 
Clean air ............................................................................................................................................................. 24 
Industrial emissions ............................................................................................................................................ 25 
Major industrial accidents prevention – Seveso ................................................................................................. 27 
Mercury Regulation ............................................................................................................................................ 29 
Noise .................................................................................................................................................................. 29 
Water quality and management ........................................................................................................................ 30 
Chemicals ........................................................................................................................................................... 35 
4. CLIMATE ACTION .............................................................................................................................................. 38 
The EU emissions trading system ....................................................................................................................... 38 
Effort sharing ..................................................................................................................................................... 39 
Land use, land use change and forestry ............................................................................................................. 40 
Adaptation to climate change ............................................................................................................................ 40 

PART II: ENABLING FRAMEWORK – IMPLEMENTATION TOOLS ............................................................................ 42 

5. FINANCING ...................................................................................................................................................... 42 
Climate finance landmarks ................................................................................................................................. 42 
Environmental financing and investments ......................................................................................................... 43 
Public financial management ............................................................................................................................. 47 
6. ENVIRONMENTAL GOVERNANCE ........................................................................................................................... 50 
Information, public participation and access to justice...................................................................................... 50 
Compliance assurance ........................................................................................................................................ 53 
EU-supported environmental capacity building ................................................................................................. 55 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  3 

Executive summary 

In  May  2016,  the  European  Commission  launched  the 
Environmental  Implementation  Review  (EIR),  a  regular 
reporting 
tool  based  on  analysis,  dialogue  and 
collaboration  with  EU  Member  States  to  improve  the 
implementation  of  existing  EU  environmental  policy  and 
legislation (1). Following previous cycles in 2017, 2019 and 
2022,  this  report  assesses  the  progress  made  while 
the  main  outstanding  challenges  and 
describing 
opportunities 
legal 
implementation in Slovakia. The purpose of this report is 
to  provide 
implementation 
performance  and  highlight  the  most  effective  ways  to 
address  the  implementation  gaps  that  impact  human 
health  and  the  environment  and  hamper  the  economic 
development  and  competitiveness  of  the  country.  The 
report relies on detailed sectoral implementation reports 
collected  or  issued  by  the  Commission  under  specific 
environmental legislation. 

information  on 

environmental 

regarding 

the 

The  main  challenges  set  out  below  have  been  selected 
from  Part I  of  this  report,  ‘Thematic  areas’,  taking  into 
account factors such as the gravity of the environmental 
implementation issue in light of the impact on the quality 
of  life  of  citizens,  the  distance  to  target,  and  financial 
implications. 

In Slovakia such challenges have been lingering since the 
first Environmental Implementation Review in 2017, and 
require urgent action. 

Despite  the  adoption  of  the  circular  economy  roadmap, 
Slovakia  still  needs  to  strengthen  its  circularity  policy 
framework and swiftly implement it. Slovakia is at risk of 
missing  the  municipal  waste  and  packaging  waste 
targets, and not meeting the 2035 target of a maximum of 
10 % of municipal waste being landfilled. Mixed municipal 
waste 
landfilled  without 
pretreatment, and Slovakia has repeatedly postponed the 
introduction of a pretreatment obligation.  

is  still  allowed 

to  be 

faces  serious  challenges 

in  nature  and 
Slovakia 
biodiversity protection. The functioning of national parks 
administration bodies suffered a setback in 2024 following 
the  dismissal  of  large  numbers  of  staff.  In  addition, 
Slovakia  abandoned  a  plan,  funded  by  the  recovery  and 
resilience plan, to foster direct conservation management 
through  buying  out  privately  owned  land  in  protected 
areas.  In  2024,  Slovakia  also  abandoned  national  co-
funding  for  several  LIFE  projects  dedicated  to  nature 
protection  and  restoration  of  habitats,  and  diverted 

(1) 

from 

the  Commission 

the  European 
Communication 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  Delivering  the 
benefits  of  EU  environmental  policies  through  a  regular 

to 

cohesion  funds  away  from  nature  protection.  Slovak 
forests in Natura 2000 sites are still facing high levels of 
logging that is not properly assessed. Slovakia also keeps 
failing to protect the Capercaillie bird species. Finally, a 
recent amendment to Slovakia’s Nature Conservation Act 
lifted  prohibitions  to  motorised  vehicles’  access  to 
protected  areas,  including  NATURA  2000  sites,  reduced 
public  participation  in  related  administrative  procedures 
and restricted the functioning of voluntary nature guards. 

Slovakia  faces  challenges  concerning  water  quality  and 
management.  Slovakia’s  surface  water  bodies  show  a 
deteriorating  trend  concerning  their  ecological  and 
chemical  status.  Slovakia  needs  to  urgently  reduce  the 
harmful impacts of hydropower plants installed along the 
river  Hron  and  other  rivers.  Finally,  Slovakia  still  faces  a 
significant  gap  in  implementing  the  Urban  Wastewater 
Treatment Directive. 

The  overall  environmental  investment  needs  to  enable 
Slovakia  to  meet  its  objectives,  beyond  climate  change, 
are estimated at EUR 2.9 billion per year, broken down as 
follows:  EUR 809 million 
for  the  circular  economy; 
EUR 780 million  for  pollution  prevention  and  control; 
EUR 506 million  for  water;  and  EUR 781 million  for 
biodiversity  and  ecosystems.  The  additional  investment 
need over the current levels – the investment gap – has 
reached an estimated EUR 1.1 billion per year in Slovakia, 
which  represents  around  1.02 %  of  its  gross  domestic 
product (higher than the EU average of 0.77 %). 

On environmental governance, Slovakia needs to urgently 
ensure a correct transposition of the revised EIA Directive; 
there has been an ongoing infringement case since 2019. 
A 2024 amendment to Slovakia’s EIA Act has not resolved 
the  non-conformity  issues;  on  the  contrary,  it  has  likely 
further deteriorated access to justice.  

On  the  positive  side,  the  emissions  of  several  air 
pollutants have decreased significantly in Slovakia since 
2005,  while  GDP  growth  has  continued.  Based  on  2024 
data,  Slovakia  meets  its  2020-2029  emission  reduction 
commitments  for  air  pollutants  NOx,  non-methane 
volatile  organic  compounds  (NMVOC),  sulphur  dioxide 
(SO2), ammonia (NH3) and PM2.5. The quality of drinking 
water  in  Slovakia  does  not  give  rise  to  concern,  with 
compliance rate for all parameter groups exceeding 99%. 

environmental  implementation  review,  COM(2016) 316 
final  of  27 May  2016,  http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2016%3A316%3AFIN. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  4 

Part I: Thematic areas 

1. Circular economy and waste management 

Transitioning to a circular economy 

Figure 1: CMUR (%), 2013–2023 

Advancing the transition to a circular economy in the EU 
will reduce the environmental and climate impact of our 
industrial  systems  by  reducing  input  materials,  keeping 
products and materials in the loop for longer and reducing 
waste generation, thus decoupling economic growth from 
resource 
circular  economy  has 
considerable  potential  to  increase  competitiveness  and 
job creation and will also promote innovation and provide 
access to new markets. With the 2020 circular  economy 
action  plan  (CEAP) (2)  measures  either 
in  place  or 
legislatively  advanced,  Member  States  will  now  have  to 
focus on a swift and effective implementation. 

consumption.  A 

The 2020 CEAP launched the legislative process for a set 
of  initiatives  that  will  now  have  to  be  implemented  by 
national  governments  across  the  EU.  These  initiatives 
were all introduced following a holistic life-cycle approach, 
with  measures  addressing  the  different  stages  of  a 
product’s life cycle, from design through use to end of life. 

In the CEAP, the EU sets as its overarching objective the 
doubling of its circular material use rate (CMUR) by 2030. 

The CMUR is a  measure of one aspect of circularity: the 
share of the total amount of material used in the economy 
that is accounted for by recycled waste.  A higher CMUR 
value means that more secondary materials were used as 
a  substitute  for  raw  materials,  thus  reducing  the 
environmental impacts of extracting primary material. 

Slovakia’s  CMUR  increased  sharply  between  2018  and 
2020  but  has  been  stagnating  since,  reaching  10.6 %  in 
2023,  which  is  still  below  the  EU  average  of  11.8 % 
(Figure 1). 

(2) 

from 

the  Commission 

Communication 
the  European 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  A  new  circular 
economy action plan for a cleaner and more competitive Europe, 
https://eur-
COM(2020) 98 

11 March 

2020, 

final 

to 

of 

14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

2023

Slovakia

EU-27

Source: Eurostat, ‘Circular material use rate’, env_ac_cur,  last updated 
13 November 
2024, 
accessed 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/view/env_ac_cur. 

9 December 

2024, 

Resource  productivity  measures  the  total  amount  of 
materials directly used by an economy in relation to gross 
domestic product (GDP). Improving resource productivity 
can help to minimise negative impacts on the environment 
and reduce dependency on volatile raw material markets. 

As shown in Figure 2, with EUR 1.52 generated per kg of 
material  consumed  in  2023,  resource  productivity  in 
Slovakia is below the EU average of EUR 2.23 per kg. 

Figure 2: Resource productivity (EUR/kg), 2013–2023 

2,5

2,0

1,5

1,0

0,5

0,0

2013

2015

2017

2019

2021

2023

Slovakia

EU-27

NB: The unit of measurement used is EUR/kg chain-linked volume (2015). 
Chain-linked  volumes  focus  on  changes  on  quantities  and  prices  of 
commodities  in  previous  years,  taking  account  of  inflation,  and  are 
indexed to the nearest appropriate year, in this case 2015. 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Resource  productivity’,  env_ac_rp,  last  updated 
7 August 
2024, 
accessed 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/product/view/env_ac_rp. 

9 December 

2024, 

lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A98%3AFIN. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Policies and measures 

In  parallel  with  European  initiatives  under  the  CEAP, 
Member States are encouraged to adopt and implement 
circular strategies at the national, regional and city levels. 
These should be tailored to each national and local reality, 
to  harness  the  proximity  economy’s (3)  potential,  while 
following  the  principles  of  a  holistic  whole-value-chain 
approach. 

Since the launch of the online European Circular Economy 
Stakeholder  Platform  in  2017 (4)  national,  regional  and 
local  authorities  have  used  the  platform  to  share  their 
strategies,  roadmaps  and  good  practices,  for  example 
alternative business models and innovative technologies. 

Slovakia’s circular economy policy framework is set in its 
first  dedicated  roadmap (5),  developed  in  2022  with  the 
cooperation  of  the  Organisation  for  Economic  Co-
operation  and  Development  (OECD)  and  the  European 
Commission’s technical support instrument. The roadmap 
policy 
introduces  more 
recommendations supported by an implementation plan 
and a monitoring framework to be introduced by 2040. 

concrete 

than 

30 

Priority  areas  are  food  and  biowaste,  the  construction 
sector,  sustainable  production  and  consumption,  and 
economic instruments as horizontal measures. 

Slovakia’s  recovery  and  resilience  plan  (RRP) (6)  includes 
one  circular  economy-related  reform  concerning  the 
management of construction and demolition waste. 

Circular economy targets were introduced as part of the 
country’s wider environmental policy strategy (7) in 2019, 
but they relate more strictly to waste. 

Green public procurement 

Public  procurement  accounts  for  a  large  proportion  of 
European 
authorities’ 
consumption,  with  public 
purchasing  power  representing  around  14 %  of  EU  GDP. 
Public  procurement  using  green  or  circular  criteria  (life-
cycle analysis, PaaS (platform as a service), second hand) 

Slovakia  5 

can help drive the demand for sustainable products that 
meet reparability and recyclability standards. 

Slovakia  adopted  a  national  action  plan  for  green  public 
procurement  covering  the  period  2016–2020.  However, 
monitoring showed that the strategic objective to achieve 
a  50 %  share  of  green  contracts  in  12  selected  product 
groups procured by public authorities, including counties 
and  municipalities,  was  not  met.  A  new  concept  for 
development  and 
implementation  of  green  public 
procurement  (GPP)  in  Slovakia  was  adopted  by  the 
government in 2019 (8), to encourage ministries and other 
central  state  administration  bodies  to  make  more 
intensive  use  of  GPP (9).  The  latest  amendment  to  the 
procurement act introduced an obligation to reach a 6 % 
quota of public procurement with environmental aspect, 
in  addition  or  alternatively  (depending  on  the  type  of 
public  authority)  to  a  6  %  quota  of  public  procurement 
with social aspect  (10). The greener Slovakia strategy sets 
a long-term goal to achieve, by 2030, 70 % of GPP for the 
total value of public procurement and for the total number 
of contracts. 

No 
further  measures  have  been  brought  to  the 
Commission’s  attention  since  the  2022  Environmental 
Implementation Review. 

The EU Ecolabel and the eco-management and audit 
scheme 

The  number  of  EU  Ecolabel  product  groups  and  the 
number  of  eco-management  and  audit  scheme  (EMAS)-
licensed  organisations  in  each  country  provide  some 
indication  of  the  extent  to  which  the  private  sector  and 
national stakeholders in that country are actively engaged 
in the transition to a circular economy. The EU Ecolabel is 
awarded  to  products  with  best-in-class  environmental 
is  a  voluntary  environment 
performance.  EMAS 
the 
scheme 
management 
environmental impacts of organisations. 

reducing 

aimed 

at 

As  of  September  2024,  Slovakia  had  15  products  and  3 
licences registered in the EU Ecolabel scheme. Compared 

(3) 

(4) 

website, 

Economy 

Commission 

European Commission, ‘Proximity and social economy ecosystem’, 
European 
https://single-market-
economy.ec.europa.eu/sectors/proximity-and-social-
economy_en. 
Circular 
(https://circulareconomy.europa.eu/platform/en/strategies). 
(5)  Ministry  of  the  Environment  and  OECD,  Closing  the  Loop  in  the 
circularity 
for 
sustainability,  2022, 

Slovak  Republic –  A 
competitiveness,  eco-innovation  and 
https://www.oecd.org/environment/waste/highlights-closing-
the-loop-in-the-slovak-republic-roadmap_EN.pdf. 
Slovakia’s 
(https://rokovania.gov.sk/RVL/Material/28317/1). 

Stakeholder 

resilience 

roadmap 

Platform 

recovery 

towards 

plan 

and 

(6) 

(7)  Ministry  of 

the  Environment,  Greener  Slovakia,  2019, 

https://www.minzp.sk/files/iep/greener_slovakia-

(8) 

strategy_of_the_environmental_policy_of_the_slovak_republic_
until_2030.pdf. 
Government  of  Slovakia,  Concept 
for  development  and 
implementation  of  green  public  procurement  in  the  Slovak 
Republic,  2019,  https://www.slov-lex.sk/elegislativa/legislativne-
procesy/SK/LP/2019/570#error=login_required&state=2a68734e
-fe36-4676-87c0-38563c1b2621. 
Following the concept, four methodologies for GPP were prepared 
and  adopted  by  the  government  in  2020  and  2021;  these  are 
mandatory for ministries and central administration bodies. 
(10)  Government  of  Slovakia,  Public  Procurement  Act,  2021, 

(9) 

https://www.slov-lex.sk/ezbierky/pravne-
predpisy/SK/ZZ/2015/343/20220331.html#error=login_required
&state=652e4a17-7391-449a-a1b5-8bd59d7c20bd. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
with the EU totals of 98 977 products and 2 983 licences, 
this  shows  a  very  low  take-up  of  the  EU  Ecolabel  in  the 
country (11).  Currently,  161  organisations  from  Slovakia 
are registered in EMAS (12). In this case, Slovakia shows a 
strong increase compared with the 2022 report. 

Since the CMUR figures in the 2022 report refer to 2020, 
and  the  latest  available  data  as  of  September  2024  are 
from 2022, it is not yet possible to assess progress in this 
regard. 

Despite  the  adoption  of  the  circular  economy  roadmap, 
which means that some progress has been made on the 
2022  report’s  priority  actions,  Slovakia  still  needs  to 
strengthen 
its  policy  framework  for  the  circularity 
transition. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

Speed  up  the  transition  to  a  circular  economy  by 
implementing  an  updated  national  strategy  and  the 
EU framework and recommendations, in particular to 
complement it with upstream circularity measures. 

•  Adopt measures to increase the CMUR. 

Waste management 

Turning waste into a resource is supported by: 

(i)  addressing  the  full 
life  cycle  of  products,  from 
conception to end of life, by setting requirements on the 
design  of  products  to  ensure  that  they  are  more 
sustainable; 
(ii) fully implementing EU waste legislation, which includes 
the  waste  hierarchy,  the  obligation  to  ensure  separate 
collection of waste, landfill diversion targets, etc.; 
(iii) reducing waste generation per capita and in absolute 
terms; 
(iv)  increasing  the  recycling  rates  of  waste  containing 
critical  raw  materials  (CRMs),  with  a  view  to  reducing 
dependencies  and  building  resilient  value  chains,  and 
stimulating demand for recycled content in all products; 
(v)  limiting  energy  recovery  to  non-recyclable  materials; 
and 
(vi)  phasing  out  landfilling  of  recyclable  or  recoverable 
waste. 

One  of  the  main  objectives  of  the  EU  Waste  Law  is  to 
decouple  economic  growth  from 
its  environmental 
impacts.  

The EU’s approach to waste management is based on the 
waste  treatment  hierarchy:  prevention,  preparing  for 

Slovakia  6 

reuse,  recycling,  recovery  and,  as  the  least  preferred 
option,  disposal 
landfilling  and 
includes 
incineration without energy recovery). 

(which 

All legislative proposals in the field of waste management 
put forward by the Commission since 2021 are intended 
to encourage Member States to promote better product 
design,  to  require  producers  to  cover  the  costs  of 
managing the waste resulting from their products and to 
ensure that waste is managed at the higher levels of the 
waste hierarchy.  

The  total  amount  of  waste  generated  in  Slovakia  has 
increased  by  more  than  a  third  over  the  last  12 years 
(Figure 3). This trend is mainly driven by the mineral and 
solidified waste categories. Excluding these wastes, waste 
generation has largely stagnated since 2018, apart from a 
notable  drop  in  2020.  The  increasing  trend  in  waste 
generation,  excluding  major  mineral  waste,  is  primarily 
driven by a significant increase in recyclable waste, which 
has more than doubled over the last 12 years. Slovakia’s 
GDP shows a limited break in its increasing trend in 2020, 
which is most likely to be due to the COVID-19 outbreak. 
In general, it appears that there has been no decoupling of 
waste generation and economic growth. 

Figure 3: Generation of waste (total and excluding major 
mineral waste), population and GDP, 2010–2022 

accessed 

15 October 

nama_10_gdp, 

Sources: Eurostat, ‘GDP and main components (output, expenditure and 
income)’, 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/nama_10_gdp__cust
om_9301905/default/table;  Eurostat,  ‘Generation  of  waste  by  waste 
category,  hazardousness  and  NACE  Rev. 2  activity’,  env_wasgen,  last 
updated 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_wasgen/default/
table?lang=en; Eurostat, ‘Population change – Demographic balance and 
crude  rates  at  national  level’,  demo_grind,  accessed  15 October  2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/demo_gind/default/t
able?lang=en&category=demo.demo_ind. 

30 September 

22 October 

accessed 

2024, 

Critical raw materials 

In  Slovakia,  some  of  CRMs  or  CRM-rich  products  are 
addressed 
in  Act  No 79/2015  on  waste  and  on 
amendments  to  certain  acts.  These  include  electrical 
equipment, batteries and accumulators, and vehicles, for 

(11) 

European  Commission,  ‘Ecolabel  facts  and  figures’,  European 
Commission 
website, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/circular-economy/eu-
ecolabel/businesses/ecolabel-facts-and-figures_en. 

(12) 

As of 6 November 2024. European Commission, ‘Eco-management 
and  audit  scheme  (EMAS)’,  European  Commission  website, 
https://green-business.ec.europa.eu/emas_en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  7 

which  the principles of  extended producer responsibility 
(EPR) applies. 

The 2021–2025 waste management programme identified 
CRM-relevant areas that would require further investment 
and  development,  even  where  adequate  processing 
capacity exists. Investment in new processing capacity is 
needed for end-of-life vehicles, while for construction and 
demolition waste, batteries and waste from electrical and 
electronic equipment, the focus should be on modernising 
the existing facilities and improving recycling rates. 

Slovakia  has  initiated  or  is  considering  measures  to 
increase  the  use  of  secondary  CRMs  such  as  mandatory 
GPP,  increasing  the  content  of  recycled  materials  in 
products  and  setting  standards  for  the  quality  of 
recyclates from waste. 

Construction and demolition waste 

Construction  and  demolition  waste  accounts  for  almost 
40 % of all waste generated in the EU. A recent study (13) 
by  the  Joint  Research  Centre  shows  that  preparing  for 
reuse  and  recycling  operations  are  preferred  over 
incineration  and 
landfilling  from  an  environmental 
perspective  for  most  of  the  different  streams  of 
construction  and  demolition  waste.  However,  the 
economics are often unfavourable for preparing for reuse 
and recycling compared with incineration and landfilling. 
If available technology were to be applied, it is estimated 
that an increase in preparing for reuse and recycling would 
lead  to  33 Mt  greenhouse  gas  (GHG)  emission  savings 
annually  (more  than,  for  example,  the  combined  annual 
GHG emissions from Estonia, Latvia and Luxembourg). 

The  preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  rate  of  mineral 
construction and demolition waste in Slovakia in 2022 was 
93.2 %  compared  with  the  EU  average  of  79.8 %. 
Measures to further increase the preparing for reuse and 
recycling  rate  of  construction  and  demolition  waste 
include separate collection at source, for instance through 

digitalised  pre-demolition  audits (14)  (so-called  resource 
assessments); EPR and other economic instruments; and 
upstream  measures  such  as  increasing  the  recycled 
content 
in  construction  products  and  the  circular 
design (15) of construction works. 

Construction and demolition waste was addressed in the 
document  Closing  the  Loop  in  the  Slovak  Republic –  A 
roadmap  towards  circularity  for  competitiveness,  eco-
innovation and sustainability (16), which was published in 
2022 in cooperation with the European Commission and 
the OECD. This document discusses important aspects of 
the  transition  of  the  construction  sector  from  a  linear 
economy  to  a  circular  one,  namely  by  reusing  and 
recycling construction and demolition waste.  

In 2022, Slovakia reformed its construction and demolition 
waste management through an amendment to the Waste 
Act  (Act  No 230/2022  Coll.).  The  reform  is  aimed  at 
addressing  Slovakia’s  low  construction  waste  recycling 
rates.  Modifications  that  have  been  introduced  include 
mandatory  selective  demolition,  increased  legal  fees  for 
landfilling,  and  notification  obligations  for  the  start  and 
end of demolition works. 

Boosting implementation – the 2023 Waste Early 
Warning Report 

This  section  focuses  on  the  management  of  municipal 
waste (17),  for  which  EU  law  sets  mandatory  recycling 
targets.  In  June  2023,  the  Commission  published  the 
Waste  Early  Warning  Report (18)  identifying  the  general 
trends in waste management and the Member States at 
risk of missing 2025 waste targets (see Figure 4). Slovakia 
is in the category of countries at risk of missing both the 
municipal waste and the packaging waste targets. Slovakia 
is also at risk of not meeting the 2035 target of a maximum 
of 10 % of municipal waste landfilled. 

Slovakia has moved in the right direction as the preparing 
for reuse and recycling rates of municipal waste and total 

(13) 

(14) 

(15) 

European Commission: Joint Research Centre, Cristobal Garcia, J., 
Caro  D.,  Foster  G.,  et  al.,  Techno-economic  and  environmental 
assessment of construction and demolition waste management in 
the  European  Union,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
2024, 
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC1354
70. 
European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Internal  Market, 
Industry,  Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs,  EU  Construction  & 
Demolition Waste Management Protocol including guidelines for 
pre-demolition and pre-renovation audits of construction works – 
Updated edition 2024, Publications Office of the European Union, 
Luxembourg,  2024,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/d63d5a8f-64e8-11ef-a8ba-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en. 
European Commission, Circular Economy – Principles for building 
design, 
2020, 
Brussels, 
https://ec.europa.eu/docsroom/documents/39984. 

(16)  OECD,  Closing  the  Loop  in  the  Slovak  Republic –  A  roadmap 
towards  circularity  for  competitiveness,  eco-innovation  and 
sustainability, 
2022, 
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/closing-the-loop-in-the-
slovak-republic_acadd43a-en.html.  

(17)  Municipal  waste  consists  of  (i)  mixed  waste  and  separately 
collected waste from households, including paper and cardboard, 
glass, metals, plastics, biowaste, wood, textiles, packaging, waste 
electrical  and  electronic  equipment,  waste  batteries  and 
accumulators,  and  bulky  waste, 
including  mattresses  and 
furniture;  and  (ii)  mixed  waste  and  separately  collected  waste 
from  other  sources,  where  such  waste  is  similar  in  nature  and 
composition  to  waste  from  households  (Directive  2008/98/EC, 
Article 3.2b). 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/waste-early-
warning-report_en. 

(18) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
packaging  waste  have  increased,  and  the  landfill  rate  of 
municipal  waste  has  decreased.  Despite  this  progress, 
improvements 
Slovakia’s 
needed 
performance. 

regarding 

are 

On the one hand, Slovakia already reports a recycling rate 
of  total  packaging  waste  close  to  the  2025  target,  and 
recycling  rates  of  packaging  waste  materials  above  the 
2025  targets,  except  for  aluminium  packaging.  On  the 
other  hand,  however,  the  recycling  rates  presented  are 
not yet based on the new calculation rules and are likely 
to be overestimated (19). 

Figure 4: Member States’ prospects of meeting the 
preparing for reuse and recycling targets for municipal 
waste and packaging waste 

Member  States  not  at  risk  of  missing  the  55 %  preparing  for 
reuse  and  recycling  target  for  municipal  waste  and  the  65 % 
recycling target for packaging waste 

Member  States  at  risk  of  missing  the  preparing  for  reuse  and 
recycling target for municipal waste but not at risk of missing the 
recycling target for packaging waste 

Member states at risk of missing both targets 

Outside coverage 

Source: European Environment Agency (EEA), ‘Many EU Member States 
not on track to meet recycling targets for municipal waste and packaging 
waste’, briefing No 28/2022, Copenhagen, 2023. Reference data © ESRI. 

Under  certain  conditions,  EU  waste  legislation  enables 
some  Member  States  to  postpone  the  deadlines  for 

Slovakia  8 

reaching certain waste management targets for municipal 
and  packaging  waste.  Member  States  that  want  to  take 
this  option  have  to  notify  the  Commission  24 months  in 
advance  of  the  deadline  and  submit  an  implementation 
plan  laying  down  the  steps  they  envisage  to  reach  the 
postponed targets within a new time frame. Regarding the 
2025 targets, 12 Member States, including Slovakia, have 
used this prerogative. 

On 22 December 2023, Slovakia notified the Commission 
of  its  intention  to  postpone  the  attainment  of  the 
preparing municipal waste for reuse and recycling target 
established by the Waste Framework Directive for 2025. 
Attached  to  the  notification,  Slovakia  submitted  an 
implementation plan laying down the measures necessary 
to  attain  the  target  within  a  postponed  time  frame  (i.e. 
2030 instead of 2025). According to the implementation 
plan, the main measures Slovakia will put in place include 
landfilling  and  incineration  fees  and  restrictions,  the 
introduction  of  pay-as-you-throw  schemes,  and  the 
setting up of EPR schemes. 

In  the  Waste  Early  Warning  Report,  the  Commission 
recommended  that  Member  States  accelerate  their 
efforts  to  improve  their  recycling  performance.  The 
Commission  is,  on  one  hand,  working  together  with  the 
national  authorities  and  stakeholders  to  speed  up  the 
implementation  of  measures  necessary  to  meet  the 
targets,  including  through  dedicated  financing.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Commission  is  pursuing  enforcement 
actions against those Member States that, based on data 
submitted to the Commission, do not achieve the targets 
of the Waste Framework Directive (20), the Packaging and 
Packaging Waste Directive (21) and the Directive on Waste 
Electrical and Electronic Equipment (22). 

Municipal waste 

Slovakia generated 478 kg per capita of municipal waste in 
2022, which is a significant increase compared with 2015 
(Figure 5)  but  still  slightly  below  the  estimated  EU-27 
average of 513 kg per capita. This increase is mainly due 
to  a  significant  increase  in  reported  amounts  going  to 
material recycling and, to a lesser extent, composting and 
digestion.  The  increment  observed  is  mainly  due  to 
than  an 
changes 

statistical 

reporting 

rather 

in 

(19) 

European  Environment  Agency  (EEA),  Early  warning  assessment 
related  to  the  2025  targets  for  municipal  waste  and  packaging 
waste – 
2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/slovakia/view. 

Copenhagen, 

Slovakia, 

(20)  Directive  2008/98/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  19  November  2008  on  waste  and  repealing  certain 
Directives, Directive - 2008/98 - EN - Waste framework directive - 
EUR-Lex. 

(21) 

European  Parliament  and  Council  Directive  94/62/EC  of  20 
December  1994  on  packaging  and  packaging  waste  (OJ  L  365, 
31/12/1994, p. 10–23), Directive - 94/62 - EN - EUR-Lex. 

(22)  Directive  2012/19/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  4 July  2012  on  waste  electrical  and  electronic 
equipment  (WEEE)  (OJ  L 197,  24.7.2012,  p. 38),  Directive  - 
2012/19 - EN - EUR-Lex. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
improvement  in  Slovakia’s  recycling  performance (23). 
Several  factors  contributed  to  the  strong  increase  since 
2015, including a change in the registration of reporting on 
metals from households, the introduction of EPR and the 
introduction of a sorting rate for municipalities. 

As  of  2020,  waste  from  restaurants  and  catering 
establishments, and not only waste from sorted municipal 
waste  collections  from  households,  but  also  waste  from 
other sources that is similar in nature and composition to 
household  waste,  is  counted  as  municipal  waste  in 
Slovakia.  This  change  has  resulted  in  an  increase  in  the 
reported  per  capita  production  of  municipal  waste  of 
approximately 9 % (24). 

Figure 5: Municipal waste management and recycling 
(including preparation for reuse), 2010–2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Municipal  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_wasmun, 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASMUN/defa
ult/table.  

22 October 

accessed 

Figure 6: Recycling (including preparation for reuse) and 
landfill rates (%), 2010–2022 

Slovakia  9 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Municipal  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_wasmun, 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASMUN/defa
ult/table. 

22 October 

accessed 

The  preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  rate  in  Slovakia 
significantly increased from 23 % in 2016 to 50 % in 2022, 
which is very close to the estimated EU-27 average of 49 % 
in  the  same  year  (Figure 6).  Both  material  recycling  and 
composting  and  digestion  contributed  to  this  increase. 
The development is also heavily influenced by changes in 
reporting. 

Slovakia has also reported data showing compliance with 
the  preparing  for  reuse  and  recycling  target  of  55 %  for 
2025, as laid down in the Waste Framework Directive. The 
difference  between  these  data,  following  the  reporting 
obligation of the Waste Framework Directive, and the data 
shown  in  Figure 6  (voluntary  reporting)  is  below  one 
percentage point for the preparing for reuse and recycling 
rate in both 2021 and 2022. The 2022 data according to 
this reporting obligation are provisional and still awaiting 
validation by Eurostat. 

The  incineration  rate  remained  quite  stable  during  this 
time frame, standing at 8 % in 2022. 

The landfill rate dropped significantly from 77 % in 2010 to 
39 %  in  2022  (Figure 6),  and  most  recently  the  total 
amount of landfilled waste also decreased slightly. 

An  infringement  procedure (25)  against  Slovakia  is  still 
ongoing concerning landfills that were open before 2004 
and are currently out of operation but have still not been 
closed  and  rehabilitated  as  required  by  the  Landfill 
Directive. This was also confirmed by the ruling of Court of 
Justice of the European Union. Slovakia should therefore 

(23) 

(24) 

EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Slovakia,  Copenhagen,  2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/slovakia/view. 
Slovak  Environment  Agency,  Comments  provided  during  the 
Eionet review of the draft EEA briefing Economic Instruments and 
Separate Collection – Key instruments to increase recycling, 2023. 

(25) 

European  Commission,  ‘Waste:  Commission  decides  to  refer 
Slovakia to court for failing to comply with EU rules on landfills’, 
European 
website, 
Commission 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_
164. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
take  the  necessary  measures  to  comply  and  protect 
environmental  and  human  health. 
In  addition,  old 
environmental burdens (contaminated waste sites, which 
pose serious risks to human health and the environment, 
and which thus need to be remediated) are the subject of 
an  infringement  procedure (26)  and  require  significant 
investments.  

Packaging waste 

Slovakia’s 
total  packaging  waste  generation  has 
significantly increased since 2010 (Figure 7). The country 
generated 108 kg per capita in 2022, which is nevertheless 
significantly  below  the  estimated  European  average  of 
186 kg per capita in the same year (27). 

Figure 7: Packaging waste generation, 2010–2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Packaging  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_waspac, last updated 23 October 2024, accessed 28 October 2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPAC__cust
om_842634/default/table?lang=en. 

(26) 

infringements  package:  Key 
European  Commission, 
decisions’, 
website, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_23_
3445. 

Commission 

European 

‘July 

Slovakia  10 

Figure 8: Packaging waste recycling rates (%), 2010–2022 

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Packaging  waste  by  waste  management  operations’, 
env_waspac, last updated 23 October 2024, accessed 28 October 2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ENV_WASPAC__cust
om_842634/default/table?lang=en. 

Slovakia’s  overall  packaging  waste  recycling  rate  has 
remained  nearly  the  same  since  2012,  reaching  72 %  in 
2022. The overall packaging waste recycling rate is mainly 
driven by paper and cardboard, along with glass packaging 
waste.  This  is  because  these  fractions  represent  a  high 
share  of  packaging  waste  generation,  along  with  a  high 
recycling  rate.  A  similar  trend  to  that  of  the  overall 
packaging  waste  recycling  rate  can  be  seen  for  the 
separate  packaging  waste  fractions,  except  for  wooden 
and  glass  packaging,  which  recorded  a  more  significant 
increase between 2012 and 2022 (Figure 8). Since 2020 it 
has  been  mandatory  to  report  steel  and  aluminium 
packaging separately. The recycling rate of steel packaging 
waste  exceeded  the  2025  target  in  2022,  while  the 
recycling rate of aluminium packaging waste was close to 
the target. 

It should be noted that the recycling rates presented are 
not  based on the new calculation rules, which  present a 
few key differences. In addition, the amounts of packaging 
placed on the market in Slovakia may be under-reported, 
as  no  estimates  are  made  to  improve  coverage  due  to, 
among other things, free riding. 

Policies to encourage waste prevention 

Waste  management  plans  and  waste  prevention 
programmes are instrumental to the full implementation 
of  EU  waste  legislation.  They  set  out  key  provisions  and 
investments to ensure compliance with existing and new 
legal requirements (e.g. on waste prevention, on separate 

(27) 

The  EU  average  might  have  been  influenced by  not  all  Member 
States fully  applying  the  reporting  rules for  packaging  waste  set 
out in Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2019/665. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
collection for certain waste streams, on recycling and on 
landfill targets). 

apartments, and door to door from individual properties. 
Glass waste is collected mostly via bring points. 

Slovakia  11 

In Slovakia, the Waste Act (No 79/2015) came into force in 
2016  and  has  been  amended  several  times  since.  The 
country’s  environmental  strategy  recognises  waste  as  a 
key  policy  area  and  sets  out  targets  and  measures  for 
improvement. 

the  national  waste 
In  2021,  Slovakia  adopted 
management plan for 2021–2025 (28). The main objective 
of the plan is to divert waste away from landfill, especially 
municipal waste, by switching to more waste prevention, 
reuse, preparing for reuse, recycling, and supplementing 
this  with  energy  recovery.  Specific  measures  include 
increasing  landfill  taxes  and  a  deposit  return  system  for 
single-use beverage packaging, which  entered into  force 
in  January  2022 (29).  This  national  plan  should  be 
complemented  by  regional  waste  management  plans, 
which are under development. 

Slovakia’s national waste prevention programme (NWPP) 
for  2019–2025  is  a  stand-alone  programme,  which  was 
partly updated in the national waste management plan in 
2021. The objective of the NWPP is to focus on preventing 
waste  instead  of  material  recovery.  The  priority  waste 
streams for prevention are food waste, construction and 
demolition  waste,  hazardous  waste,  municipal  waste, 
packaging,  bulky  waste,  and  other  miscellaneous  waste 
such  as  paper  waste  and  waste 
from  extractive 
industries (30). The NWPP defines prevention measures in 
a series of areas, aimed at reducing waste generation and 
improved 
tools  have  been 
introduced,  such  as  the  Environmental  Fund  and 
Operational Programme Slovakia. 

circularity. 

Financial 

An  evaluation  of  the  previous  NWPP  is  included  in  the 
current  NWPP.  This  highlights  the  need  for  several 
legislative  changes  in  order  to  change  production  and 
consumption behaviours. 

Policies to encourage separate collection and recycling 

Residual waste, biowaste and fractions falling under EPR 
for  packaging  (paper,  cardboard,  metals,  composite 
materials  and  plastics)  are  usually  collected  via  bring 
residential  properties  with  multiple 
points 

from 

(28) 

(29) 

https://minzp.sk/files/sekcia-enviromentalneho-hodnotenia-
riadenia/odpady-a-obaly/registre-a-
zoznamy/poh_sr_2021_2025_vestnik.pdf 
EEA,  Early  warning  assessment  related  to  the  2025  targets  for 
municipal  and  packaging  waste –  Slovakia,  Copenhagen,  2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/many-eu-member-
states/slovakia/view.  

Since  2023,  all  municipalities  have  provided  a  separate 
collection  of  biowaste,  that  is,  biowaste  is  collected 
separately and is not mixed with other types of waste, or 
it can be sorted and recycled at source. 

In Slovakia a pay-as-you-throw system is in place, but its 
design  is  decided  by  each  municipality  and  it  currently 
covers a small fraction of the population. Finally, there are 
mandatory  deposit  return  schemes 
for  aluminium 
beverage cans and plastic drink bottles, and for some glass 
drink bottles. 

Policies to discourage landfilling or incineration 

Slovakia has a landfill ban on sorted biodegradable waste 
from  households  and  restaurants,  and  municipal  garden 
waste,  as  well  as  biodegradable  waste  from  retail 
wholesale and distribution, which has applied since 2023. 
However, according to a 2023 analysis aimed at assessing 
the  available  capacity  for  the  treatment  of  mixed 
municipal  waste,  mixed  municipal  waste  was  allowed  to 
continue to be landfilled without treatment. In this regard, 
an infringement procedure has been ongoing since 2021, 
as waste is being landfilled without ensuring the selection 
of  different  fractions  of  waste  and  the  stabilisation  of 
organic waste (31). In addition, Slovakia did not  correctly 
transpose  the  pretreatment  obligation  into  its  national 
legislation.  The  introduction  of  this  obligation  has  been 
repeatedly postponed, most recently until 2027. 

Since 2016, Slovakia has applied a landfill tax (known as a 
fee) of between EUR 11 and EUR 30 per tonne of landfilled 
waste depending on the sorting level in the municipality. 
There is no tax on waste incineration. 

Slovakia has moved in the right direction, as the preparing 
for reuse and recycling rates of municipal waste and total 
packaging  waste  have  increased,  and  the  landfill  rate  of 
municipal  waste  has  decreased.  Despite  this  progress, 
improvements in its performance are needed to reach the 
2025 target of preparing for reuse and recycling  55 % of 
municipal waste and the 2035 target to reduce landfill to 
10 % of generated municipal waste. 

Slovakia  has  made  some  progress  in  terms  of  waste 
improving  and  extending  the  separate 
prevention; 

for 

years 

Republic 

(30)  Ministry of the Environment, Waste prevention programme of the 
2019, 
the 

2019–2025, 

Slovak 
https://www.minzp.sk/files/sekcia-enviromentalneho-
hodnotenia-riadenia/odpady-a-obaly/registre-a-zoznamy/ppvo-
sr-19-25.pdf. 
European  Commission,  ‘October  infringements  package:  Key 
decisions’, 
website, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_21_
5342. 

Commission 

European 

(31) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
Slovakia  12 

• 
• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Complete the closure of non-compliant landfills. 
Improve  municipal  waste  preparation  for  reuse  and 
recycling. 
Expand  waste  treatment  infrastructure  associated 
with  the  higher  levels  of  the  waste  hierarchy  (in 
particular,  increasing  the  treatment  capacity  for 
biowaste and supporting home composting), support 
the  treatment  of  separately  collected  biowaste  and 
for 
establish  a  quality  management 
compost/digestate from biowaste. 
Implement and expand the pay-as-you-throw scheme 
for businesses and households. 
Improve  the  data  quality  management  system  on 
packaging  waste  to  present  coherent  and  verifiable 
datasets. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets, 
the 
following 
Commission  in  the  early  warning  reports  where 
applicable. 

the  recommendations  made  by 

system 

from 

collection  of  waste,  including  biowaste;  improving  the 
functioning  of  EPR  systems,  in  line  with  the  general 
minimum requirements; increasing landfill taxes to divert 
recyclable  waste 
landfill;  and  closing  and 
rehabilitating  non-compliant  landfills.  Slovakia  has  made 
no progress in ensuring that all landfilled waste has been 
subject 
is  not  enough 
information  available  to  assess  whether  Slovakia  has 
made  progress  in  avoiding  investment  in  potentially 
stranded  assets  like  mechanical  biological  treatment  or 
installations  for  (co-)incineration  of  mixed  municipal 
waste. 

(pre)treatment.  There 

to 

2025 priority actions 

• 

• 

• 

Invest  in  waste  prevention  measures  to  reduce  the 
total amount of waste generated. 
Implement, harmonise and gradually increase landfill 
taxes  to  phase  out  landfilling  of  recyclable  and 
recoverable waste. 
Increase  reuse  of  products  and  scale  up  waste 
recycling  infrastructure  associated  with  the  higher 
steps  of  the  waste  hierarchy.  In  particular,  improve 
collection  and  increase  treatment  capacity  for  bio-
waste. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
2. Biodiversity and natural capital

Global and EU biodiversity frameworks

Slovakia  13 

Biological diversity and healthy ecosystems are critical for 
our societies, underpin our economies and well-being and 
are  essential 
for  climate  change  adaptation  and 
mitigation.  The  Kunming–Montreal  global  biodiversity 
in  December  2022,  sets 
framework  (GBF),  adopted 
comprehensive  and  measurable 
tackle 
biodiversity  loss  by  2030.  To  implement  this  global 
framework and integrate biodiversity considerations into 
national decision-making, the EU – as well as all Member 
States – had to submit national biodiversity strategies and 
action plans (NBSAPs), or to communicate national targets 
aligned with the global targets, by the end of 2024. 

targets 

to 

The EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (BDS) aims to put EU 
biodiversity  on  a  path  to  recovery  by  2030.  It  sets 
quantified targets intended to protect and restore nature 
and manage ecosystems in a sustainable manner, as well 
as measures to enable implementation and commitments 
to  support  global  biodiversity.  A  BDS  actions  tracker (32) 
and a dashboard of indicators (33) provide information on 
implementation progress. 

recently 

adopted 

EU  Nature 

The 
Restoration 
Regulation (34) is the first EU-wide, comprehensive law of 
its kind and a key instrument for the EU to deliver on the 
global  biodiversity  targets  for  2030.  It  lays  down  an 
overarching  objective  at  the  EU  level  to  put  in  place 
effective restoration measures on 20 % of EU land and sea 
by 2030 and for all ecosystems in need of restoration by 
2050. To achieve this, it sets binding targets for Member 
States to restore and maintain ecosystems, as well as an 
effective  implementation  framework  based  on  national 
restoration plans. 

The BDS is the main instrument used by the EU to deliver 
on  its  obligation  under  the  GBF.  The  Commission  has 
submitted  to  the  Convention  on  Biological  Diversity  its 
report on GBF-aligned EU targets that stem from the BDS 
and  from  other  policy  instruments  under  the  European 
Green Deal. 

(32) 

(33) 

(34) 

Actions 

Tracker 

Strategy 

Strategy 

Biodiversity 

Biodiversity 

EU 
(https://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kcbd/actions-tracker/). 
EU 
(https://dopa.jrc.ec.europa.eu/kcbd/EUBDS2030-
dashboard/?version=1). 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  24 June  2024  on  nature  restoration  and  amending 
Regulation (EU) 2022/869 (OJ L, 2024/1991, 29.7.2024); see also 
the Commission web page on the law (The EU Nature Restoration 
Law (europa.eu)). 

Dashboard 

Member  States’  NBSAPs  need  to  provide  coherent 
frameworks  for  national  delivery  on  the  global  and  EU 
2030  biodiversity  targets. 
line  with  the  global 
obligations,  NBSAPs  should  also  include  a  biodiversity 
financing  plan  and  a  capacity-building  plan,  based  on 
needs assessments, as well as an overview of the national 
indicators used to measure progress. 

In 

Slovakia’s 2030 NBSAP is currently in preparation. Slovakia 
has not yet submitted national targets to the Convention 
on Biological Diversity online reporting tool. 

in 

Slovakia’s  biodiversity  is  increasingly  under  pressure.  A 
recent  amendment  of  the  Nature  Conservation  Act  (35) 
lifted certain bans which were in force in protected areas, 
including Natura 2000 sites (concerning access with cars, 
three-wheelers  and  scooters),  and  reduced 
bikes, 
the  administrative 
participation  of 
the  public 
procedures.  At  the  same  time,  restrictions 
in  the 
functioning of the voluntary nature guard will significantly 
reduce  guarding  activities  in  protected  areas  and  most 
likely lead to an increase in offences and criminal activity 
against  nature.  All  these  changes  will  also  increase  the 
disturbance  of  and  thus  negatively  affect  protected 
species occurring in these sites. Slovakia’s RRP includes a 
component  on  climate  adaptation  and  biodiversity, 
pursuant to which investments are coupled with reforms 
in  landscape  planning,  nature  protection  and  water 
management  contributing  to  the  climate  adaptation. 
Examples  of  investments  include  the  renaturation  of 
watercourses or wetlands and afforestation of forest land 
with native tree species. Among the first results of the RRP 
was that Slovakia passed an act reforming the system of 
national 
separate 
act 
administration  bodies  for  the  nine  national  parks  and 
started  the  process  of  transferring  state-owned  land 
located  within  the  national  parks  to  the  administration 
bodies.  However,  the  functioning  of  the  national  park 
administration  bodies  suffered  a  setback  following  the 
dismissal and departure of many staff members, including 
directors, under the current government. The plan to buy 

established 

parks. 

The 

(35)  

335/2024 Z.z. - Zákon, ktorým sa mení a dopĺňa zákon č. 543/2002 
Z.  z.  o  ochrane  prírody  a  krajiny  v  znení  neskorších  predpisov  a 
ktorým sa dopĺňa zákon č. 79/2015 Z. z. o odpadoch a o zmene a 
doplnení niektorých zákonov v znení neskorších predpisov. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
  
 
privately owned land located within national parks so that 
it  could  be  managed 
their 
administration  bodies,  funded  by  the  RRP,  was  also 
abandoned by the government.  

for  conservation  by 

Overall, sufficient funding for biodiversity is lacking, and a 
broader financing plan for biodiversity, including activities 
identified in the Natura 2000 prioritised action framework 
(PAF), is missing. 

The EU aimed to allocate to biodiversity objectives at least 
7.5 %  of  annual  spending  under  the  EU  budget  in  2024, 
rising to 10 % in 2026 and 2027. 

For more details on biodiversity financing and investments 
for Slovakia, see Chapter 5. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Submit  to  the  Convention  on  Biological  Diversity  an 
updated  NBSAP  or  national  targets  following  the 
adoption of the GBF. 

Nature protection and restoration – Natura 
2000 

Natura  2000 (36),  the  largest  coordinated  network  of 
protected areas in the world, is key to the achievement of 
the objectives set out in the Birds and Habitats Directives. 
These objectives are to ensure the long-term protection, 
conservation and survival of Europe’s most valuable and 
threatened species and habitats and the ecosystems they 
underpin. Key milestones towards meeting the objectives 
of the Birds and Habitats Directives are (i) the setting up 
of a complete and coherent Natura 2000 network; (ii) the 
designation  of  sites  of  community  importance  (SCIs)  as 
special areas of conservation (SACs) (37); and (iii) effective 
management of all Natura 2000 sites through the setting 
of site-specific conservation objectives and measures. 

Slovakia  14 

Setting up a complete and coherent network of Natura 
2000 sites 

The  setting  up  of  a  complete  and  coherent  network  of 
is  a  cornerstone  of  the  EU’s 
Natura  2000  sites 
international  commitments,  under  the  BDS  and  GBF,  to 
legally protect a minimum of 30 % of its land area and 30 % 
of its sea area. 

the 

these 

requires 

commitments 

Meeting 
full 
implementation of Article 3 of the Habitats Directive. The 
Natura  2000  network  should  represent  a  complete  and 
coherent  ecological  network  composed  of  sites  hosting 
natural habitat types and species of community interest. 
The  Natura  2000  network  enables  the  natural  habitat 
types  and  the  species’  habitats  concerned  to  be 
maintained  or,  where  appropriate,  restored  to  a 
favourable conservation status in their natural range. 

Slovakia  hosts  66  habitat  types (38)  and  195  species (39) 
covered by the Habitats Directive. The country also hosts 
populations  of  83  bird  taxa  listed  in  the  Birds  Directive 
Annex I (40). 

As  shown  in  Figure 9,  in  2023,  30 %  of  Slovakia  was 
covered  by  Natura  2000  sites  (EU  coverage:  18.5 %). 
Special protection areas (SPAs) classified under the Birds 
Directive  covered 26.7 %  (EU coverage:  12.8 %) and SCIs 
designated under the Habitats Directive covered 12.8 % of 
Slovak territory (EU coverage: 14.3 %). 

Considering  both  Natura  2000  and  other  nationally 
designated protected areas, Slovakia reports that it legally 
protects  40.5 %  of 
(EU-27  average: 
26.1 %) (41). 

territory 

its 

Following  an 
infringement  procedure,  Slovakia  has 
included  additional  areas  in  the  network  and  protected 
habitats  and  species  in  existing  sites.  Consequently,  the 
SCI part of Natura 2000 is now complete. 

(37) 

(36)  Natura  2000  comprises  sites  of  community  importance  (SCIs), 
designated pursuant to  the Habitats  Directive, as well as special 
protection areas (SPAs), classified pursuant to the Birds Directive. 
Numbers of protected areas in Figure 9 do not add up to the total 
of SCIs plus SPAs, because some SCIs and SPAs overlap. An SAC is 
an SCI designated by a Member State. 
SCIs are  designated pursuant  to  the  Habitats Directive,  whereas 
SPAs  are  designated  pursuant  to  the  Birds  Directive.  Figures  of 
coverage do not add up because some SCIs and SPAs overlap. 
EEA,  ‘Number  of  habitats  and  species  per  Member  State’, 
Article 17  dashboard,  Annex I 
total,  19 December  2019, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/general-information-on-habitats-and-species-article-17-
national-summary-dashboards-archived. 

(38) 

(39) 

(40) 

(41) 

dashboard, 

EEA,  ‘Number  of  habitats  and  species  per  Member  State’, 
Article 17 
2019, 
19 December 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/general-information-on-habitats-and-species-article-17-
national-summary-dashboards-archived. 
EEA,  ‘Number  of  bird  species/populations  per  Member  State’, 
Article 12  dashboard,  Annex I, 
last  updated  11 May  2023, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/maps-and-
charts/general-information-on-bird-species-populations-article-
12-national-summary-dashboards-archived.  This  counting  only 
takes 
information  was 
requested. 
Eurostat dataset env_bio4, terrestrial protected area percentage 
for 
2025, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/env_bio4/defa
ult/table?lang=en. 

into  account  birds  taxa  for  which 

March 

2022, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Slovakia  15 

Slovakia’s  current  priority  action  framework.  With  a 
budget  of  over  EUR 16 million,  the  project  is  meant  to 
support conservation actions in various parts of Slovakia. 
These  varied  actions 
include  close-to-nature  forest 
introducing 
in  the  Muránska  planina, 
management 
agroforestry  systems  in  the  Záhorie  area,  and  managing 
peatlands in northern and central Slovakia. 

Another  integrated  project,  LIFE  Living  Rivers,  aims  to 
contribute to the implementation of the third river basin 
management  plan.  Running  from  2023  to  2032,  the 
project  will  also  benefit  nature  by  restoring  degraded 
natural ecosystems and native fish populations as well as 
by improving management practices in water-dependent 
Natura 2000 sites. 

In  addition,  Slovakia  has  a  number  of  other  LIFE  Nature 
include  projects 
and  Biodiversity  projects.  These 
conserving dry grassland habitats, conserving the ground 
squirrel, the great bustard and the red-footed falcon, and 
developing best practices in butterfly conservation (44)45 

However,  national  co-funding  previously  provided  by 
Slovakia  for  the  operation  of  the  projects  LIFE  Living 
Rivers, LIFE Steppe Birds and LIFE Metamorphosis was put 
on  hold  at  the  beginning  of  2024,  which  effectively 
brought  the  implementation  of  these  projects  to  a 
standstill.  In  October  2024,  the  Ministry  of  Environment 
decided to definitively refuse national co-funding for LIFE 
Steppe  Birds  and  LIFE  Metamorphosis,  and  to  make 
national  co-funding  for  LIFE  Living  Rivers  conditional  on 
the  availability  of  sufficient  funds  in  the  state  budget  in 
2025.  These  actions  have  seriously  jeopardised  the 
successful  completion  of  these  LIFE  projects  and 
the  compliance  of  Slovakia  with  key 
undermine 
obligations of the nature legislation.  

Recovery of species 

One objective set by the BDS is that, by 2030, there should 
be no further deterioration in conservation trends or the 
status of any protected species. The BDS also states that 
Member States should ensure that at least 30 % of species 
not  currently  in  favourable  conservation  status  achieve 
that  status  or  show  progress  towards  doing  so  (e.g.  by 
exhibiting  positive  population  dynamics  or  stable  or 
increasing range and habitat size), by 2030. According to 
the  European  Environment  Agency  (EEA),  based  on 
reporting  required  under  Article 17  of  the  Habitats 

(44) 

European  Commission,  ‘LIFE  programme  in  Slovakia’,  2023, 
https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
03/Slovakia_Update_EN_Final_March23.pdf. 

Figure 9: Natura 2000 terrestrial protected area coverage 
per Member State (%), 2023 

Source: EEA, ‘Natura 2000 Barometer’, 2023 data, accessed March 2025, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/dashboards/natura-2000-
barometer. 

Designating special areas of conservation and setting 
site-specific conservation objectives and measures 

To  ensure  that  SCIs  contribute  to  the  objectives  of  the 
Habitats  Directive,  Member  States  must  designate  them 
as SACs, setting site-specific conservation objectives based 
on  the  ecological  needs  of  the  species  and  habitats 
present  on  the  sites.  Such  site-specific  conservation 
should  define  attributes  and  targets  that  describe  the 
favourable  or 
habitats  or 
unfavourable,  addressing  key  pressures  and  threats. 
Under  Article 6  of  the  Habitats  Directive  Member  States 
must establish and implement measures to achieve these 
objectives. 

species’  condition  as 

In 2023, Slovakia designated all its 644  SCIs as SACs in a 
single  government  act. 
It  has  also  set  site-specific 
conservation objectives for these sites and has committed 
itself to drafting the necessary conservation measures to 
ensure effective protection and restoration. This work is 
ongoing.  The  infringement  procedure  opened  by  the 
Commission  against  Slovakia  in  July  2019 (42)  continued 
with  the  issuing  of  a  reasoned  opinion (43)  and  remains 
open. 

EU financing can play a major role in the establishment of 
conservation objectives and measures. An integrated LIFE 
project  (running  until  2030)  focuses  on  implementing 

(42) 

(43) 

‘July 

European 

Commission 

infringements  package:  Key 
website, 

European  Commission, 
decisions’, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/INF_19
_4251.  
European  Commission,  ‘February  infringements  package:  Key 
decisions’, 
website, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_22_
601. 

Commission 

European 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  16 

Figure 10: Assessments of conservation status of 
habitats for the 2007–2012 and 2013–2018 reporting 
periods 

NB: The values shown for 2007–2012 and 2013–2018 are not necessarily 
directly  comparable  because  changes  in  area  conservation  status  in  a 
Member State may result from changes to methods or use of better data, 
rather than reflecting genuine changes. 

Source:  EEA,  ‘Conservation  status  and  trends  of  habitats  and  species’, 
2021, 
19 December 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/state-of-nature-in-
the-eu/article-17-national-summary-dashboards/conservation-status-
and-trends. 

December 

accessed 

2019, 

Figure 11: Assessments of conservation status of species 
for the 2007–2012 and 2013–2018 reporting periods 

Directive,  a  quarter  of  species  in  the  EU  were  of  good 
conservation status as of 2018 (46). 

One of the primary objectives of the Habitats Directive is 
favourable 
the  maintenance  of  or  restoration  to 
conservation status of all species of community interest. 
Moreover, the Birds Directive also aims to ensure that all 
wild birds in the EU enjoy a secure status. To achieve these 
objectives,  it  will  be  necessary  to  address  key  pressures 
and threats. The Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive 
lay  down  a  framework  of  species  protection  rules  and 
rules on the conservation of habitats and species in order 
to combat these threats. 

According  to  the  report  submitted  by  Slovakia  on  the 
conservation  status  of  habitats  and  species  covered  by 
Article 17  of  the  Habitats  Directive  for  the  period  2013–
2018 (47),  the  share  of  assessments  for  habitats  in  good 
conservation status was nearly the same as in the previous 
reporting period, 2007–2012. The share of species in good 
conservation status increased from 20 % to 23 % between 
the  two  reporting  periods (48).  As  far  as  birds  are 
concerned,  about  58 %  of  the  breeding  species  showed 
short-term  increasing  or  stable  population  trends,  while 
the figure for wintering species was 67 %. 

The share of habitats in bad conservation status decreased 
slightly to 10 %, while the share for species increased to 
22 %. For most habitats and species, Slovakia also resolved 
the  unknown  classifications  between  the  two  reporting 
periods. 

Under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, Member States 
are  required  to  report  on  the  conservation  status  of 
habitats and species every six years. The current reporting 
cycle, covering 2019 to 2024, is due for submission in July 
2025.  Figures 10  and  11  show  the 
latest  available 
conservation status data. 

NB: The values shown for 2007–2012 and 2013–2018 are not necessarily 
directly  comparable  because  changes  in  area  conservation  status  in  a 

(46) 

EEA, State of Nature in the EU: Results from reporting under the 
Nature Directives 2013–2018, Publications Office of the European 
Union, Luxembourg, 2020. 

(47) 

(48) 

Černecký,  J.,  Čuláková,  J.,  Ďuricová,  V.  et  al.,  Správa  o  stave 
biotopov a druhov európskeho významu za obdobie rokov 2013 – 
2018  v  Slovenskej  republike,  Banská  Bystrica,  ŠOP  SR,  2020, 
https://www.sopsr.sk/natura/dokumenty/Monografia_reporting
_art17_2013_2018.pdf. 
EEA, State of Nature Report, 2021. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Member State may result from changes to methods or use of better data, 
rather than reflecting genuine changes. 

Source:  EEA,  ‘Conservation  status  and  trends  of  habitats  and  species’, 
19 December 
2021, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/state-of-nature-in-
the-eu/article-17-national-summary-dashboards/conservation-status-
and-trends. 

December 

accessed 

2019, 

forest  management 

Slovakia  has  taken  the  first  steps (49)  to  address  specific 
in 
problems  with  sustainable 
protected  areas.  Slovak  forests  in  Natura  2000  sites  are 
facing high levels of logging, especially sanitary logging in 
reaction  to  forest  disturbances  such  as  bark  beetle 
infestations or storm damage. Article 6(3) of the Habitats 
Directive  requires  that  plans  and  projects  not  directly 
connected  with  or  necessary  to  the  management  of  a 
Natura  2000  site  but  likely  to  have  a  significant  impact 
thereon  undergo  an  appropriate  assessment  of  their 
effects on the site before their implementation. According 
to the Commission, Slovak legislation still does not ensure 
that  sanitary  logging  activities,  which  might  have  a 
significant  impact  on  Natura  2000  sites,  undergo  these 
assessments. At the same time, forest management plans, 
which did not undergo such assessments in the past, are 
still  in  force.  Therefore,  in  July  2020,  the  Commission 
decided  to  refer  Slovakia  to  the  Court  of  Justice  of  the 
European  Union  over  failure  to  assess  the  impact  of 
sanitary logging on Natura 2000 sites (50). 

The  infringement case also addresses the  failure to take 
measures for the protection of a bird species in breach of 
Article 6(2) of the Habitats Directive concerning the need 
to  avoid  habitat  deterioration  and  disturbance  of  a 
protected  species.  Since  Slovakia  joined  the  EU  in  2004, 
the population of the capercaillie has decreased by half in 
the  12  SPAs  classified  for  its  protection  under  the  Birds 
Directive.  The  main  reason  for  this  large  decline  is  the 
disappearance of suitable habitats due to logging. 

In June 2022, the Court of Justice of the European Union 
confirmed  the  position  of  the  Commission (51)  on  all  the 
above issues, and Slovakia needs to take steps to ensure 
compliance.  So  far,  the  implementation  of  measures  to 
comply  with  the  court  ruling  is  slow,  and  only  limited 
progress has been achieved by Slovakia. 

As shown in Figures 10 and 11 on the conservation status 

Slovakia  17 

of  habitats  and  species,  there  were  no  major  changes 
between  the  two  reporting  periods.  Changes  in  status 
occurred mainly due to improved knowledge based on an 
established  monitoring  system  and  the  redistribution  of 
previously  unknown  status;  the  share  of  those  with  an 
unknown status fell to almost zero. The share of species 
with a bad conservation status increased, while that status 
for habitats slightly decreased between the two reporting 
periods. At the same time, the share of habitats with good 
conservation  status  hardly  changed  and  the  share  of 
species with the same status increased. Natural processes, 
agriculture and alien species were the main pressures for 
habitats. Agriculture, the development, construction and 
use  of  infrastructure,  urban  development  and  natural 
processes were the most significant pressures for species. 

Slovakia  has  made  some  progress  in  implementing  the 
priority actions set out in the 2022 EIR. In 2023, Slovakia 
completed  the  SCI  part  of  its  Natura  2000  network  and 
drafted conservation objectives for its sites. It also began 
work on establishing conservation measures for its sites, 
which will continue in the coming years. However, these 
measures  were  carried  out  only  to  a  limited  degree. 
Biodiversity  considerations  were 
to  some  degree 
integrated  into  its  common  agricultural  policy  (CAP) 
strategic  plan  (SP),  which  also  includes  an  eco-scheme 
with biobelts to support bird and insect life in agricultural 
landscapes. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

• 

of 

the 

establishment 

Finalise 
site-specific 
conservation objectives and measures for all Natura 
2000 sites (including by adopting their  management 
plans) and ensure their effective implementation. 
Strengthen the integration of biodiversity actions into 
other  policies  (e.g.  on  energy,  agriculture,  fisheries, 
forestry,  urban  and 
infrastructure  planning  and 
sustainable  tourism)  and  promote  communication 
between stakeholders. 

•  Reinforce  action  for  habitats  and  species  with 
for 
increased 
and 

unfavourable  conservation  status 
example, 
connectivity,  better  policy 
integration, and increased funding. 

restoration  measures, 

coordination 

through, 

(51) 

(49) 

(50) 

into  force 

legislation  entered 

Amended 
in  January  2022 
strengthening the role of the national parks administration bodies 
(https://www.autora.sk/zz/2002/543/). 
European  Commission,  ‘Nature:  Commission  decides  to  refer 
Slovakia to the Court of Justice of the EU over failure to assess the 
impact of sanitary logging on Natura 2000 sites and failure to take 
measures  for  the  protection  of  a  bird  species’,  European 
Commission 
website, 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_
1232. 
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/EN/
IP_20_1232 

Court  of  Justice  of  the  European  Union,  ‘Protection  of  the 
capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the Natura 2000 areas hosting 
the  habitat  of  that  wild  bird:  The  court  finds  that  Slovakia  has 
infringed the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive’, Court of 
Justice 
website, 
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-
06/cp220107en.pdf. 

European 

Union 

the 

of 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
Recovery of ecosystems 

Agricultural ecosystems 

The BDS works alongside the common agricultural policy 
(CAP) to support the transition to sustainable agriculture. 

The  strategy  has  set  five  common  agriculture-related 
targets for 2030, namely to: 

—  reduce  by  50 %  the  overall  use  of –  and  risk  from – 

chemical pesticides; 

—  reduce by 50 % the use of more hazardous pesticides; 
—  reduce  by  50 %  losses  of  nutrients  from  fertilisers 
(which  will  result  in  a  20 %  reduction  in  the  use  of 
fertilisers)  while  ensuring 
is  no 
deterioration of soil fertility; 

there 

that 

—  restore at least 10 % of agricultural area to have high-

— 

diversity landscape features; and 
increase  the  area  under  organic  farming  to  at  least 
25 %. 

The “Vision for agriculture and food” (52), adopted by the 
European Commission in February 2025, sets a roadmap 
to  an  agri-food  system  that  is  attractive,  competitive, 
sustainable and fair for current and future generations. To 
ensure a sustainable future for EU agriculture, it is crucial 
that  these  four  priority  areas  are  pursued  together,  and 
that  public  and  private  support  are  adequately  targeted 
toward this objective.  

The  CAP  and  national  CAP  SPs  are  key  instruments  to 
facilitate and strengthen the efforts of European farmers 
to protect biodiversity and the environment at large. The 
Commission approved Member States’ CAP SPs in 2022 for 
the  programming  period  2023–2027.  The  CAP  is  the 
largest  source  of  funding  for  the  implementation  of  EU 
environment  policy,  including  biodiversity.  SPs  should 
continue playing a key role in the protection of soil, water, 
air quality and biodiversity. 

While certain CAP result indicators focus on interventions 
favouring 
that 
regenerate ecosystems, the impact of these measures is 

sustainable 

agriculture 

practices 

Slovakia  18 

difficult to assess. The uptake of eco-schemes is voluntary 
for farmers. 

The  utilised  agricultural  area  in  Slovakia  increased  from 
in  2013,  and 
in  2012  to  1 928 510 ha 
1 927 450 ha 
decreased to 1 849 190 ha in 2022 (53). 

‘share  of  agricultural 

Landscape features are small fragments of non-productive 
and typically, but not exclusively, semi-natural vegetation 
present  in  or  adjacent  to agricultural  land.  They  provide 
ecosystem  services  and  support  for  biodiversity.  The 
indicator 
land  covered  with 
landscape features’ is the ratio between the area covered 
by landscape features and the area covered by agricultural 
land.  Based  on  the  Land  Use/Cover  Area  Frame  Survey 
landscape  features  estimates,  the  share  of  agricultural 
land  covered  by  non-productive  landscape  features  in 
Slovakia  is  4 %,  below  the  EU  average.  At  the  EU  level, 
landscape features cover 5.6 % of agricultural land. 

features 

In 2024, the CAP basic  regulations were amended (54) to 
simplify  certain  rules,  including,  inter  alia,  the  standards 
for good agricultural and environmental condition of land. 
These  changes  removed  the  obligation  for  farmers 
benefiting  from  CAP  area-related  support  to  have  a 
minimum  share  of  3–4 %  of  non-productive  area  or 
farms.  The  amended 
their 
landscape 
regulations do not remove the obligation under the good 
agricultural and environmental condition of land standard 
number  8  to  retain  existing  landscape  features,  and  set 
out  an  obligation  for  Member  States  to  establish  and 
provide  support  for  eco-schemes  covering  practices  for 
the  maintenance  of  non-productive  areas,  such  as  land 
lying fallow, and for the establishment of new landscape 
features, on arable land. 

in 

The  recently  adopted  Nature  Restoration  Regulation (55) 
focuses on the restoration of agricultural ecosystems and 
requires Member States to put in place measures that aim 
to achieve an increasing trend at  the  national level  in at 
least  two  out  of  three 
indicators  for  agricultural 
ecosystems (56).  One  of  these  indicators  is  the  ‘share  of 
agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features’. 

Organic  farming  practices  are  highly  beneficial  to 
biodiversity.  As  shown  in  Figure  12,  it  is  estimated  that 
13.69 % of Slovakia’s land area is used for organic farming. 

(52) 

(53) 

(54) 

5 December 

https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/overview-vision-agriculture-
food/vision-agriculture-and-food_en. 
Eurostat,  ‘Utilised  agricultural  area  by  categories’,  tag00025, 
accessed 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/tag00025/defa
ult/table?lang=en. 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1468 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  14 May  2024  amending  Regulations  (EU)  2021/2115 
regards  good  agricultural  and 
and 
environmental  condition  standards,  schemes 
for  climate, 
environment and animal welfare, amendment of the CAP strategic 

(EU)  2021/2116  as 

(55) 

(56) 

(OJ 

plans,  review  of  the  CAP  strategic  plans  and  exemptions  from 
controls  and  penalties 
L,  2024/1468,  24.5.2024), 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1468/oj. 
Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  24 June  2024  on  nature  restoration  and  amending 
Regulation 
(OJ  L,  2024/1991,  29.7.2024), 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2024/1991/oj. 
The  three  indicators  are  ‘grassland  butterfly  index’,  ‘stock  of 
organic carbon in cropland mineral soils’ and ‘share of agricultural 
land with high-diversity landscape features’. 

(EU)  2022/869 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
This  is  above  the  EU  average  of  10.50 % (57).  Slovakia  is 
currently  contributing  above  average  to  achieving  the 
target of 25 % of the EU’s agricultural land being used for 
organic farming by 2030. 

Figure 12:  Share  of  total  utilised  agricultural  area 
occupied by organic farming per Member State (%), 2022

Source:  Eurostat,  ‘Area  under  organic  farming’,  sdg_02_40,  accessed 
5 December 
2024, 
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/sdg_02_40/default/t
able?lang=en. 

in  soils,  and  to 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Slovakia  received  priority  actions  to 
reduce  pressure  from  the  agricultural  sector  on  natural 
resources, in particular via land management practices to 
improve 
improve  water  retention 
incentives  for  farmers  to  better  protect  biodiversity. 
Slovakia has made some progress. Measures under its CAP 
SP include allocating significant EU funds to eco-schemes 
and agri-environmental measures aimed at improving soil 
structure,  reducing  pesticides  and  promoting  organic 
farming.  Additionally,  there  are  financial  incentives  to 
support biodiversity in areas facing natural constraints and 
Natura  2000  sites.  However,  challenges  remain,  as 
biodiversity  loss  due  to  agricultural  intensification  and 
climate impacts continues to be a concern. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Implement  eco-schemes  and  agri-environmental 
measures and practices to address the environmental 
needs of Slovakia. 

(57) 

(58) 

This  is  based  on  the  latest  available  information  from  Eurostat, 
which 
is  currently  under  review;  European  Commission, 
Agriculture  biologique  au  sein  de  l’Union  Européenne,  factsheet, 
2024, 
Brussels, 
https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/document/download/c67458ed
-ec50-4762-ae68-341763ab93c2_fr?filename=factsheet-organic-
farning_fr.pdf&prefLang=en. 
Proposal  for  a  directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  on  soil  monitoring  and  resilience  (Soil  Monitoring  Law), 
COM(2023) 416 
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52023PC0416. 

2023, 

5 July 

final 

of 

Slovakia  19 

Soil ecosystems 

Soil is an essential, finite and extremely fragile resource. 
Its  increasing  degradation  poses  a  threat  to  EU  food 
security and climate resilience, adaptation and mitigation. 

The EU soil strategy, adopted in November 2021, aims to 
support soil protection, sustainable soil management and 
the  restoration  of  degraded  soils  to  achieve  the  Green 
Deal objectives as well as land degradation neutrality by 
2030. 

This entails: 

—  preventing further soil degradation; 
—  making sustainable soil management the new normal; 
—  taking action for ecosystem restoration. 

The  proposed  directive  on 
soil  monitoring  and 
resilience (58)  aims  to  introduce  the  first  comprehensive 
legislation on the protection of all soils in the EU. Should 
the  directive  be  adopted,  Member  States  will  have  to 
transpose  it  into  national  legislation  and  implement  it, 
starting with putting in place the governance systems and 
a  sound  monitoring  framework  building  on  existing 
national soil monitoring frameworks. The objective of the 
proposed  directive 
is  to  provide  better  and  more 
comparable  soil  health  data  with  the  view  of  attaining 
healthy soils by 2050. 

Degradation  of  soil  ecosystems  encompasses  several 
aspects. The proposed  directive requires Member States 
to  assess  soil  health  according  to  a  set  of  common 
indicators  and  to  define  the  necessary  regeneration 
measures. The area of soil that is sealed is an important 
factor  in  monitoring  land-use  change  and  represents  an 
important pressure on nature and biodiversity. Other soil 
issues  related  to  land  degradation  are  soil  erosion,  soil 
compaction, 
soil 
contamination, soil salinisation and the presence in soil of 
nitrogen  and  phosphorus 
impact 
assessment accompanying the proposal, which builds on 
the data available in the EU Soil Observatory, points to the 
following soil degradation issues in Slovakia (59). 

in  excess.  The 

soil  organic 

loss  of 

carbon, 

(59) 

Commission staff working document – Impact assessment report: 
Annexes –  Accompanying  the  proposal  for  a  directive  of  the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  on  soil  monitoring  and 
resilience  (Soil  Monitoring  Law),  SWD(2023) 417  final  of  5 July 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
2023, 
07/IMPACT 
ASSESSMENT 
REPORT_ANNEXES_SWD_2023_417_part4.pdf.https://environm
ent.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-07/IMPACT 
REPORT_ANNEXES_SWD_2023_417_part4.pdf 

ASSESSMENT 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
The  greatest  contributor  to  Slovakia’s  unhealthy  soils  is 
loss  of  soil  organic  carbon  in  mineral  soils (60),  which 
affects  23 %  of  the  land  and  68 %  of  cropland  and 
grassland  areas.  Unsustainable  soil  erosion  by  water, 
wind, tillage and harvest also impacts 22 % of the national 
territory and 62 % of cropland areas. 

types in this group has a favourable conservation status. 
Natural succession, accumulation of organic material, the 
modification  of  hydrological  flow,  and  abiotic  natural 
processes are the biggest threats to these habitats.  

Forest ecosystems 

Slovakia  20 

Grasslands 

Grasslands are among the most diverse ecosystems in the 
EU; they can contain as many as 80 different plant species 
per  square  metre  and  are  home  to  a  large  variety  of 
animals, ranging from small insects, birds and rodents to 
large herbivores.  Grasslands are essential for agriculture 
and  livestock  herding.  Natural  grasslands  also  play  an 
important  role  in  storing  carbon.  However,  changes  in 
land  uses  have  caused 
agricultural  practices  and 
grasslands to disappear at an alarming rate, making them 
one of Europe’s most threatened ecosystems. 

Slovakia  protects  15  grassland  habitat  types  listed  in 
Annex I to the Habitats Directive. Of these, only three have 
a  favourable  conservation  status  in  at  least  one  of  the 
country’s  two  biogeographical  regions.  Abandonment  of 
grassland  management,  conversion  to  agricultural  land 
and  forest,  and  intensive  grazing  are  some  of  the  main 
threats to Slovakia’s grasslands. 

Wetlands/peatlands 

Wetlands act as water sources and purifiers; they are the 
planet’s  greatest  natural  carbon  stores  and  they  are 
crucial to agriculture and fisheries. Peatlands are a special 
type of wetland dominated by peat-forming plants such as 
Sphagnum  mosses.  Nearly  all  peatlands  in  the  EU  are 
habitat  types  listed  in  Annex I  to  the  Habitats  Directive. 
Drained  peatlands  under 
intensive  agricultural  use 
constitute only 3 % of the EU’s utilised agricultural area. At 
the  same  time,  they  are  responsible  for  25 %  of  GHG 
emissions  from  the  EU’s  agricultural  sector.  Restoring 
peatlands brings multiple benefits, as peatlands improve 
water  retention  and  quality,  store  carbon,  reduce  GHG 
emissions and increase biodiversity. 

Slovakia protects six habitat types among bogs, mires and 
fens.  The  latest  data  show  that  none  of  the  six  habitat 

(60)  De  Rosa,  D.,  Ballabio,  C.,  Lugato,  E.  et  al.,  ‘Soil  organic  carbon 
stocks in European croplands and grasslands: How much have we 
lost  in  the  past  decade?’,  Global  Change  Biology,  Vol. 30,  No 1, 
2023, e16992, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16992. 

(61)   Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the 
Council on a monitoring framework for resilient European forests, 
COM(2023)728, 
2023, 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2023)728&lang=en 

November 

22 

Forests are important carbon sinks, and conserving them 
is vital if the EU is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. 
The EU forest strategy for 2030, adopted in July 2021, is a 
plan of actions to promote the many services that forests 
provide. Its key objective is to ensure healthy, diverse and 
resilient  EU  forests  that  contribute  significantly  to  the 
achievement  of  the  EU’s  biodiversity  and  climate 
ambitions.  About  27 %  of  the  forest  area  in  the  EU  is 
covered by habitat types listed in Annex I to the Habitats 
forests  host  several  species 
Directive.  Moreover, 
protected  under  the  Birds  and  Habitats  Directives, 
including  those  for  which  there  is  a  requirement  to 
designate Natura 2000 sites and to protect breeding sites 
and resting places. 

Several  Commission  guidelines  on  forestry  management 
were  published 
in  2023.  They  covered  biodiversity-
friendly  afforestation,  reforestation  and  tree  planting; 
forest  management;  and  defining, 
closer-to-nature 
mapping, monitoring and strictly protecting primary and 
old-growth 
forests.  Further  guidance  on  payment 
schemes for ecosystems services has also been published. 

In  2023,  the  Commission  proposed  a  new  forest 
monitoring law (61) that aims to create a comprehensive 
forest  knowledge  base,  address  information  gaps  and 
enable a better response to growing pressures on forests. 

Assessments  show  that,  of  the  27 %  of  EU  forest  area 
protected under the Habitats Directive, less than 15 % has 
favourable conservation status (62). The share of forested 
areas in the EU with a bad conservation status increased 
from 27 % in 2015 to 31 % in 2018. 

In  Slovakia,  forests  covered  40.1 %  of  the  territory in 
2020 (63);  however,  only  a  third  of  assessments  show  a 

(62) 

(63) 

EEA, State of Nature in the EU: Results from reporting under the 
Nature Directives 2013–2018, Publications Office of the European 
Union, 
2020, 
Luxembourg, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/state-of-nature-in-the-
eu-2020. 
EEA,  forest  information  system  for  Europe,  ‘Countries –  FISE 
country factsheets’, forest information system for Europe website, 
https://forest.eea.europa.eu/countries.  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
good conservation status (64). 

Figure 13: Conservation status of forests protected 
under the Habitats Directive per Member State (% of 
assessments), 2013–2018 

Slovakia  21 

to the EUTR, Member States’ competent authorities must 
conduct  regular  checks  on  operators  and  traders  and 
apply penalties for non-compliance. 

On  29 June  2023,  the  Regulation  on  Deforestation-free 
Products (EUDR) (66) entered into force (67). The regulation 
seeks to guarantee that products in the EU that are made 
using  any  of  seven  listed  commodities  have  no  links  to 
deforestation. The EUDR repeals the EUTR.  

to 

ensure 

sustainable 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Slovakia  received  priority  actions  to 
improve incentives for foresters to better protect forests 
and  biodiversity; 
forest 
management  through  effective  planning,  taking  into 
account  ecosystem  services  provided  by  forests;  and  to 
prevent the deterioration of Natura 2000 sites, including 
by ensuring that forest management plans are assessed in 
accordance with EU law. As Slovakia changed its legislation 
in  response  to  the  infringement  proceedings (68),  new 
forest management plans are  currently generally subject 
to  assessment  in  accordance  with  EU  law,  although 
problems remain with the assessment of salvage logging. 

2025 priority action 

• 

Improve  the  conservation  status  of  forests  by 
forest  management  and 
promoting  sustainable 
ensuring  compliance  with  the  Habitats  Directive 
before granting/renewing permits for forest logging. 

Prevention and management of invasive alien 
species 

Invasive  alien  species  (IAS)  are  a  major  cause  of 
biodiversity  loss  in  the  EU.  Besides  inflicting  direct  and 
indirect  damage  on  nature  and  the  economy,  some  IAS 
also carry and spread infectious diseases, posing a threat 
to  humans  and  wildlife.  Regulation  (EU)  No 1143/2014 
(the  IAS  Regulation)  aims  to  prevent,  minimise  and 
mitigate  the  adverse  impacts  of  IAS  on  biodiversity.  It 
focuses action on a list of IAS of EU concern (the  ‘Union 
list’), which is regularly updated (69). 

(68) 

(67)  The law will apply to large and medium-sized companies starting 
on December 30, 2025, and to micro and small enterprises starting 
on June 30, 2026. 
Court  of  Justice  of  the  European  Union,  ‘Protection  of  the 
capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus) and the Natura 2000 areas hosting 
the  habitat  of  that  wild  bird:  The  court  finds  that  Slovakia  has 
infringed the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive’, Court of 
website, 
Justice 
https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2022-
06/cp220107en.pdf. 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1141  of 13 July 
2016  adopting  a  list  of  invasive  alien  species  of  Union  concern 
pursuant  to  Regulation  (EU)  No 1143/2014  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  (OJ  L 189,  14.7.2016,  p. 4),  as 
(EU) 
amended  by  Commission 

Implementing  Regulations 

European 

Union 

the 

(69) 

of 

Source: Commission staff working document – New EU forest strategy for 
eur-
of 
2030, 
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52021SC0652. 

SWD(2021) 652 

16 July 

2021, 

p. 24, 

final 

Among  forest  disturbances  contributing  to  loss  of  forest 
integrity and related biodiversity loss, wildfires constitute 
a  particular  cause  for  concern.  In  2022,  the  EU  saw  a 
record  number  (2 700)  of  wildfires  affecting  more  than 
30 ha, which led to the destruction of 785 605 ha of forest, 
the second highest annual figure recorded. Recent years 
have  also  witnessed  the  occurrence  of  widespread 
uncontrollable  fires  (so-called  megafires),  which  are 
associated with loss of life and an enormous cost in terms 
of  damage  to  the  environment,  businesses  and  society 
(over  EUR 2 billion  annually)  and  carbon  dioxide  (CO2) 
emissions.  Megafires  are  practically  beyond  suppression 
capacity and can be prevented only by an integrated risk 
management  approach.  Wildfires  prevention 
is  also 
essential to preserve resources for the bioeconomy. 

The EU Timber Regulation (EUTR) (65) prohibits the placing 
on the EU market of illegally harvested timber. According 

(64) 

(65) 

(66) 

European  Commission:  Joint  Research  Centre,  Mapping  and 
assessment  of  primary  and  old-growth  forests 
in  Europe, 
Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2021, 
p. 13, 
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC1246
71. 
Regulation (EU) No 995/2010 of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  20 October  2010  laying  down  the  obligations  of 
operators who place timber and timber products on the market 
(OJ  L 295,  12.11.2010,  p. 23),  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010R0995. 
‘Regulation  on  Deforestation-free 
European  Commission, 
website, 
Products’, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/forests/deforestation/r
egulation-deforestation-free-products_en. 

Commission 

European 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
The third update of the Union list (70) entered into force 
on 2 August 2022. The fourth update is in preparation. 

Figure 14: Number of IAS of EU concern, based on 
available georeferenced information for Slovakia, 2024 

Slovakia  22 

The IAS Regulation (71) currently lists 88 species subject to 
importing,  selling,  breeding, 
restrictions  on  keeping, 
growing  and  releasing  into  the  environment.  Member 
States  are  required  to  take  measures  to  (i)  prevent  the 
introduction  of  IAS,  (ii)  ensure  early  detection  and  rapid 
eradication of IAS and (iii) manage species that are already 
widespread on their territory. 

This  aligns  with  target 6  of  the  GBF  to  reduce  the 
introduction of IAS by at least 50 % by 2030 and minimise 
their impact. 

Preventing  the  introduction  and  spread  of  IAS,  and 
managing  them, 
including  through  eradication  and 
control,  can  result  in  a  substantial  cost  saving.  Studies 
estimate that the total cost of IAS in Europe (damages and 
management)  amounted  to  EUR 116.61 billion  between 
1960 and 2020 (72). More recent studies have put this cost 
at  USD 28 billion  per  year  in  the  EU,  increasing  to 
USD 148.2 billion  by  2040 (73),  and  at  USD 423 billion 
annually at the global level (74). 

The total number of IAS of Union concern in Slovakia is 28. 

This  includes  20  species  recorded  in  the  2022  EIR  and  8 
new additions. Of these new additions, 4 were already on 
the  Union  concern  list  in  2021,  and  4  were  added  later 
under  Commission 
(EU) 
2022/1203. 

Implementing  Regulation 

The  spread  of  IAS  of  Union  concern  can  be  seen  in 
Figure 14. 

2017/1263,  (EU)  2019/1262  and  (EU)  2022/1203,  https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02016R1141-
20220802&from=EN. 
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1203 of 12 July 
2022  amending  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1141  to 
update the list of invasive alien species of Union concern (OJ L 186, 
13.7.2022, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
p. 10), 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32022R1203. 
Regulation (EU) No 1143/2014 of the European Parliament and of 
the  Council  of  22 October  2014  on  the  prevention  and 
management  of  the  introduction  and  spread  of  invasive  alien 
species (OJ L 317, 4.11.2014, p. 35). 

(70) 

(71) 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Slovakia  received  a  priority  action  to 
ensure compliance with the IAS Regulation.  Slovakia has 
since  ensured  compliance,  and  the  related  infringement 
proceeding was closed. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Step  up 

implementation  of  the 

IAS  Regulation, 
including with regard to enforcement and the capacity 
of inspection authorities. 

•  Ratify the International Convention for the Control and 
Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments of 
2004 (BWM Convention). 

Ecosystem assessment and accounting 

The  BDS  calls  on  Member  States  to  better  integrate 
biodiversity  considerations 
into  public  and  business 
decision-making at all levels and to develop natural capital 
accounting. 

(72)  Haubrock,  P. J.,  Turbelin,  A. J.,  Cuthbert,  R. N.  et  al.,  ‘Economic 
costs of invasive alien species across Europe’,  NeoBiota, Vol. 63, 
2021, pp. 153–190. 

(74) 

(73)  Henry, M., Leung, B., Cuthbert, R. N. et al., ‘Unveiling the hidden 
economic  toll  of  biological  invasions  in  the  European  Union’, 
Environmental Sciences Europe, Vol. 35, No 1, 2023, p. 43. 
IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity 
and  Ecosystem  Services),  Summary  for  Policymakers –  Invasive 
alien 
2023, 
assessment, 
https://www.ipbes.net/document-library-catalogue/summary-
policymakers-invasive-alien-species-assessment. 

species 

Bonn, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  23 

Similarly, target 14 of the GBF (75) aims to ensure the full 
integration  of  biodiversity  and  its  multiple  values  into 
policy  and  planning  and,  as  appropriate,  national 
accounting.  This 
requires  effective  and  coherent 
biodiversity  observation  and  reporting  on  ecosystem 
condition in the EU (76). 

The amended Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European 
environmental  economic  accounts (77)  introduces  new 
requirements  for  Member  States  to  report  on  the 
condition  of  ecosystems,  including  urban  ecosystems, 
croplands,  grasslands,  forest  and  woodland,  coastal 
beaches,  dunes  and  wetlands.  Data  reported  by  the 
Member  States  will  feed  into  the  second  European 
ecosystem assessment, due in 2027, and can also be used 
to support policy decisions. 

An ecosystem assessment is an analysis of the condition of 
ecosystems and the pressures acting on them, as well as 
the benefits that they provide to people, either directly or 
indirectly through the economy. 

An 
increasing  number  of  platforms,  networks  and 
communities of practice involve businesses in protecting 
biodiversity,  including  the  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity 
Platform (78).  These  platforms  and  communities  are  key 
tools  for  promoting  and  facilitating  natural  capital 

assessments  among  businesses  and  financial  services 
providers. 

Natural  capital  assessments  help  private  businesses  to 
better understand both the negative and positive impacts 
that they have on nature, and to appreciate how nature 
contributes 
their  success.  Such  understanding 
contributes to the implementation of the EU’s BDS. 

to 

There is still no Slovakian business network member of the 
EU Business & Biodiversity Platform. 

In the 2022 EIR report, Slovakia received a priority action 
to  continue  supporting  the  mapping  and  assessment  of 
ecosystems and their services, and ecosystem accounting 
development, 
for 
through  appropriate 
integrating  ecosystem  extent,  condition  and  services 
(including some monetary values) into national accounts; 
and to continue supporting the development of national 
business  and  biodiversity  platforms,  including  natural 
capital  accounting  systems,  to  monitor  and  value  the 
impact of business on biodiversity. No progress has been 
recorded on these actions. 

indicators 

2025 priority action 

•  Support the development of the national business and 

biodiversity network. 

(76) 

(75)  Decision 15/4  adopted  by  the  Conference  of  the  Parties  to  the 
Convention  on  Biological  Diversity:  Kunming–Montreal  global 
biodiversity  framework (https://www.cbd.int/doc/decisions/cop-
15/cop-15-dec-04-en.pdf). 
European  Commission:  Joint  Research  Centre  and  EEA,  EU 
Ecosystem Assessment – Summary for policymakers, Publications 
2021, 
Office 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/81ff1498-b91d-11eb-8aca-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en. 

European  Union, 

Luxembourg, 

the 

of 

(77) 

(78) 

final 

Proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  amending  Regulation  (EU)  No 691/2011  as  regards 
introducing  new  environmental  economic  accounts  modules, 
COM(2022) 329 
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2022:329:FIN. 
The  EU  Business  &  Biodiversity  Platform 
(https://green-
to 
business.ec.europa.eu/business-and-biodiversity_en)  aims 
promote  the  business  case  for  biodiversity  to  businesses  and 
financial institutions through workshops, seminars, reports and a 
cross-media communication strategy.  

11 July 

2022, 

of 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Slovakia  24 

Clean air

3. Zero pollution 

EU  clean  air  policies  and  legislation  have  successfully 
reduced  emissions  of  key  air  pollutants  and  significantly 
improved  air  quality,  which  is  now  moving  towards  the 
levels  recommended  by  the  World  Health  Organization 
(WHO).  This  has  resulted  in  clear  health  benefits  and 
reduced adverse impacts on ecosystems and biodiversity. 
However, to achieve the WHO-recommended levels, more 
efforts  are  needed,  including  full  compliance  with  EU 
legislation.  To  guide  these  efforts,  the  EU  zero  pollution 
action plan sets targets for 2030 relative to 2005. These 
are to reduce the health impacts of air pollution by 55 % 
and  to  reduce  the  EU  ecosystems  threatened  by  air 
pollution by 25 %. 

methane  volatile  organic  compounds  (NMVOC),  sulphur 
dioxide (SO2), ammonia (NH3) and PM2.5. According to the 
latest  projections  submitted  under  Article 10(2)  of  the 
NECD, Slovakia is projected to meet its emission reduction 
commitments  for  2030  onwards  for  NOx,  NMVOC,  SO2, 
NH3 and PM2.5. 

Slovakia  submitted  its  first  national  air  pollution  control 
programme (NAPCP) to the Commission on 9 March 2020. 
An update was due in 2024 but Slovakia has not submitted 
it by the publication date of this report. 

Figure 15: Emission trends of main pollutants / GDP in 
Slovakia (%), 2005–2022 

The EU has developed a comprehensive suite of air quality 
policies (79).  These  set  health-based  EU  air  quality 
standards (80)  and  stipulate  Member  States’  national 
emission  reduction  commitments (81)  for  several  air 
pollutants.  

The  air  quality  in  Slovakia  continues  to  give  cause  for 
concern in some parts of its territory. 

The  latest  available  annual  estimates  (for  2022)  by  the 
EEA (82) for Slovakia attribute 3 700 deaths each year (or 
41 400 years  of  life  lost  (YLL))  to  fine  particulate  matter 
(PM2.5) (83);  260  deaths  each  year  (or  2 900 YLL)  to 
nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (84); and 700 deaths each year (or 
7 800 YLL) to ozone (85). 

The  emissions  of  several  air  pollutants  have  decreased 
significantly in Slovakia since 2005, while GDP growth has 
continued  (see  Figure 15).  According  to  the  inventories 
submitted  under  Article 10(2)  of  the  National  Emission 
Reduction  Commitments  Directive  (NECD) (86)  in  2024, 
Slovakia has met its emission reduction commitments for 
2020–2029 for air pollutants  nitrogen oxides (NOx), non-

200%

150%

100%

50%

0%

NH₃

PM2.5

NMVOC

SO₂

NOₓ

GDP

Source: EEA, ‘National air pollutant emissions data viewer 2005–2022’, 
25 June 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/national-air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-2005-2022. 

2024, 

(79) 

(80) 

(81) 

(82) 

(83) 

European  Commission,  ‘Air’,  European  Commission  website, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air_en. 
European  Commission,  ‘EU  air  quality  standards’,  European 
website, 
Commission 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/air-quality/eu-air-
quality-standards_en.  
European  Commission,  ‘Reducing  emissions  of  air  pollutants’, 
European 
website, 
Commission 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/reducing-
emissions-air-pollutants_en. 
EEA, Harm to human health from air pollution in Europe: Burden 
of  disease  2024,  briefing  No 21/2024,  Copenhagen,  2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/publications/harm-to-
human-health-from-air-pollution-2024. 
Particulate matter (PM) is a mixture of aerosol particles (solid and 
liquid) covering a wide range of sizes and chemical compositions. 
PM10  refers  to  particles with a  diameter  of  10 µm  or  less.  PM2.5 

refers to particles with a diameter of 2.5 µm or less. PM is emitted 
from many human sources, including combustion. 

(85) 

(84)  Nitrogen  dioxide  (NO2)  here  pertains  to  a  group  of  gases  called 
NOx, which also comprises nitrogen monoxide (NO). NOx is emitted 
during fuel combustion (e.g. from industrial facilities and the road 
transport sector). 
Low-level  ozone 
is  produced  by  photochemical  action  on 
pollution.  This  year,  for  the  first  time,  the  impact  of  long-term 
exposure to ozone has also been taken into account. In previous 
analysis by the EEA, only the impact of short-term exposure was 
estimated.  

(86)  Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  14  December  2016  on  the  reduction  of  national 
emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants, amending Directive 
2003/35/EC  and  repealing  Directive  2001/81/EC  (OJ  L 344, 
17.12.2016, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2016.344.01.0001.01.ENG. 

p. 1), 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
79,27%

11,34%

•  As part of the NAPCP, take action to reduce emissions 

Figure 16: PM2.5 and NOx emissions by sector in Slovakia 
(%), 2022 

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Waste

Transport

Residential,
commercial &
institutional

Manufacturing
and extractive
industry

Energy supply

Agriculture

PM2.5

5,03%

6,78%

NOₓ

0,71%

39,78%

5,03%

2,20%

1,69%

26,21%

9,97%

11,99%

Source: EEA, ‘National air pollutant emissions data viewer 2005–2022’, 
25 June 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/national-air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-2005-2022. 

2024, 

in  one  air  quality  zone (88) 

In  2023,  exceedances  above  the  limit  values  set  by  the 
Ambient Air Quality Directive (AAQD) (87) were registered 
for  PM10 
in  Slovakia. 
Furthermore, the target values for ozone concentrations 
have not been met in two air quality zones, and the target 
values for benzo(a)pyrene concentrations have not been 
met in six air quality zones (89). 

Persistent  breaches  of  air  quality  requirements,  which 
have  severe  negative  effects  on  health  and  the 
environment,  are  being  followed  up  by  the  European 
Commission through infringement procedures covering all 
Member States concerned, including Slovakia. The Court 
of Justice of the European Union has delivered a judgment 
concerning exceedances of PM10 limit values in 2023 (C-
342/21)  confirming  Slovakia’s  non-compliance  with 
Directive  2008/50/EC.  The  aim 
is  that  appropriate 
measures are put in place to bring all air quality zones into 
compliance. 

(OJ 

L 152, 

(87)  Directive  2008/50/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 21 May 2008 on ambient air quality and cleaner air for 
Europe 
https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32008L0050. 
Banskobystrický kraj. 
EEA, 
Eionet 
https://cdr.eionet.europa.eu/. 

Repository, 

11.6.2008, 

(88) 
(89) 

Central 

p. 1), 

Data 

Slovakia  25 

In the 2022 EIR, Slovakia received two priority actions. The 
first priority action was to further reduce emissions in the 
context  of  the  NAPCP.  Slovakia  has  made  substantial 
progress on this, as the latest reported data show that the 
2020–2029  emission  reduction  commitments  have  been 
met  and  that  Slovakia  is  projected  to  meet  the  2030 
onwards  emission  reduction  commitments.  The  second 
priority action was to ensure full compliance with EU air 
quality  standards  and  maintain  downward  emission 
trends. Based on the latest data, Slovakia has made some 
progress in this regard. However, exceedances above limit 
values  and  target  values  remain  for  PM10,  ozone  and 
benzo(a)pyrene.  Since  2019,  downward  emission  trends 
have been reported for all main pollutants except PM2.5. 
This situation requires further action. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

of air pollutants. 
Ensure  full  compliance  with  the  current  AAQD 
standards, also in light of future stricter requirements 
under the revised AAQD. 

Industrial emissions 

The  main objectives of EU policy on industrial emissions 
are to: 

(i)  protect  air,  water  and  soil  and  to  prevent  harmful 

effects on human health and the environment; 

(ii)  prevent and manage waste; 
(iii) improve energy and resource efficiency; 
(iv) clean up contaminated sites. 

The  cornerstone  of  the  policy  is the  Industrial  Emissions 
Directive (IED), which was revised in 2024 (90). The revision 
improves the directive’s contribution to the zero pollution 
objective. It has a strong focus on innovation, and builds 
solid  links  between  depollution,  decarbonisation  and 
circularity, making it a key regulatory tool to accompany 
the green transformation of EU industry by 2050. 

(90)  Directive  2010/75/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 24 November 2010 on industrial and livestock rearing 
emissions (integrated pollution prevention and control) (OJ L 334, 
17.12.2010, p. 17), as amended by Directive (EU) 2024/1785 of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  24 April  2024, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02010L0075-
20240804&qid=1725983863299.  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
The overview of industrial activities regulated by the IED 
below  is  based  on  data  reported  to  the  EU  Registry  in 
2022 (91). 

In  Slovakia,  around  511  industrial  installations  were 
required to have a  permit  in  accordance with  the IED in 
2022.  The  industrial  sectors  with  the  most  installations 
covered  by  the  IED  were  waste  management  (24 %), 
intensive  rearing  of  poultry  or  pigs  (21 %),  treatment  of 
metals (14 %) and chemicals (12 %). 

Figure 17  shows  the  damage  to  health  and 
the 
environment due to the main industrial air pollutants. As 
this  depends  on,  among  other  factors,  the  size  of  the 
industrial  sector  in  each  Member  State,  the  figure  also 
shows  the  ratio  between  the  damage  and  the  industrial 
activity  (expressed  in  gross  value  added  (GVA)),  which 
gives an indication of the emissions  ‘intensity’. Although 
Slovakia is in 13th place in terms of damage in the EU, it 
comes 7th for emissions intensity, above the EU average 
of  EUR 27.5/EUR 1 000  GVA.  The  main 
industrial 
contributors to emissions to air (92) are the energy sector 
and  the  metals  and  mineral  industry  for  NOX  emissions, 
the waste management sector and chemical industry for 
dust emissions, and the energy sector, metals sector and 
mineral sector for SO2 and heavy metals. 

Figure 17: Industrial air pollution damage and intensity 
per Member State, 2021 

Slovakia  26 

Figure 18: Industrial releases of pollutants to water and 
industrial activity in the EU-27 

NB:  Cd,  cadmium;  Hg, mercury;  Ni,  nickel;  Pb,  lead;  TOC,  total  organic 
carbon; total N, total nitrogen; total P, total phosphorous. 

Source:  EEA,  ‘Industrial  pollutant  releases to  water  in Europe’,  30 May 
2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/industrial-
pollutant-releases-to-water. 

Concerning  Slovakia  in  particular,  Figure 19  shows  the 
industrial emissions of heavy metals to water, taking into 
account  the  human  toxicity  of  each  metal,  as  well  as 
emissions  intensity,  based  on  its  ratio  with  industrial 
activity (expressed in GVA). Slovakia has the 13th highest 
emissions of heavy metals to water and is in 4th position 
for  emissions 
intensity  (below  the  EU  average  of 
0.864 kg/EUR 1 billion GVA). 

Figure 19: Industrial releases and intensity of heavy 
metals to water per Member State, 2022 

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial pollution intensity indicators – EU large industry 
air  pollution  damage  costs  intensity’,  European  Industrial  Emissions 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/analyse/industrial-
Portal, 
emissions-indicator. 

2024, 

Overall,  industrial  emissions  to  water  in  the  EU  have 
decreased  over  time  for  all  the  main  pollutants.  On 
average  in  the  EU,  they  appear  to  be  decoupled  from 
industrial  activity,  which  has  increased  over  the  same 
period (expressed in GVA), as shown in Figure 18. 

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial pollution intensity indicators – EU large industry 
water  pollution  intensity’,  European  Industrial  Emissions  Portal,  2024, 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/analyse/industrial-emissions-indicator. 

As shown in Figure 20, the main industrial contributors to 
emissions to water in Slovakia are the chemical sector for 
heavy metals, nitrogen and total organic carbon; the pulp 
industry  for  phosphorus;  and  the  metal 
and  paper 

(91) 

European 

Portal, 
Industrial 
EEA, 
https://industry.eea.europa.eu/, 2022 being the baseline year for 
all reports. 

Emissions 

(92) 

European  Environment  Agency,  LRTAP,  Air  pollutant  emissions 
data viewer (Gothenburg Protocol, LRTAP Convention) 1990-2022, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/topics/in-depth/air-
pollution/air-pollutant-emissions-data-viewer-1990-2022. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  27 

Since  the  2022  EIR,  the  Commission  adopted  BAT 
conclusions on (i) ferrous metal processing, (ii) the textiles 
industry,  (iii)  common  waste  gas  management  and 
treatment  systems 
in  the  chemical  sector  and  (iv) 
smitheries and foundries. 

The  Commission  relies  on  the  efforts  of  national 
competent  authorities  to  implement  the  legally  binding 
BAT  conclusions  and  associated  BAT  emission  levels  in 
environmental permits. This should result in considerable 
and continuous reductions in pollution. 

In 2022, Slovakia received the following priority actions: (i) 
review  permits  to  ensure  compliance  with  the  new 
adopted  BAT  conclusions;  (ii)  strengthen  checks  and 
enforcement to ensure compliance with BAT conclusions; 
(iii) address emissions of heavy metals to air; (iv) address 
pollution from  metal production and processing;  and  (v) 
improve  reporting  related  to  the  European  pollutant 
release and transfer register. Given the lack of recent data 
on  most  of  the  pollutants  concerned,  it  is  impossible  to 
assess  Slovakia’s  progress.  Only  partial  data  have  been 
reported  in  the  industrial  emission  portal,  which  show 
improvements as regards SOx and nitrogen. SOx emissions 
to  air  have  reduced  by 63.5 %  since  2017,  and  total 
nitrogen releases to water have reduced by less than 20 %. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Reduce industrial air pollution damage and intensity. 
•  Reduce 
industrial  releases  to  water  and  their 

• 

• 

intensity. 
Engage  with  industry  and  environmental  NGOs  to 
ensure proper contribution to and implementation of 
BAT conclusions and ensure timely updates to permits 
following the publication of BAT conclusions. 
Ensure  effective  public  participation  and  access  to 
justice in relation to the IED. 

Major industrial accidents prevention – Seveso 

The  main  objectives  of  EU  policy  on  the  prevention  of 
major industrial accidents are to: 

(i)  control  major-accident  hazards  involving  dangerous 

substances, especially chemicals; 

(ii)  limit  the  consequences  of  such  accidents  for  human 

health and the environment; 

(iii) continuously improve the prevention of, preparedness 

for and response to major accidents. 

The cornerstone of the policy is Directive 2012/18/EU (the 

production and processing sector for polycyclic aromatic 
hydrocarbons. 

Figure 20: Relative releases to water from industry in 
Slovakia (%), 2022 

100%

75%

50%

25%

0%

Heavy Metals
Ecotoxicity

Heavy Metals
Human
Toxicity

Polycyclic
aromatic
hydrocarbons
(PAHs)

Total nitrogen Total organic
carbon (TOC)

Total
phosphorus

Chemicals
Ferrous metal
Other manufacturing
Refineries

Electricity and heat production
Non-ferrous metal
Pulp, paper and wood

Source: EEA, ‘Industrial reporting under the Industrial Emissions Directive 
2010/75/EU  and  European  pollutant  release  and  transfer  register 
Regulation (EC) No 166/2006 – ver. 12.0 Sep. 2024 (tabular data)’, EEA 
Geospatial 
2024, 
Catalogue, 
https://doi.org/10.2909/cf5e54c1-be99-4426-bcad-baa26c4f27a0. 

13 September 

Data 

IED  provisions  on  public  information  and  participation 
require Member States to adopt transposition legislation 
enabling members of the public to have access to relevant 
information  and  participate  in  the  approval  process  for 
potentially  polluting  installations.  Thus,  the  public  and 
(NGOs),  alongside 
non-governmental  organisations 
competent authorities, play a role in ensuring compliance 
of  these  permits  with  EU  legislation.  The  IED  contains 
mandatory  requirements  on  environmental  inspections, 
requiring a site visit to take place at least every 1–3 years, 
using  risk-based  criteria.  In  addition,  IED  enforcement 
provisions require Member States to determine effective, 
proportionate  and  dissuasive  penalties  applicable  to 
infringements  of  IED-based  national  provisions.  In  the 
revised  directive, 
that  worst 
the  provisions 
infringements can be sanctioned by fines of at least 3% of 
the  annual  EU  turnover  of  the  legal  person.  The  revised 
IED  also  introduces  a  right  to  compensation  for  people 
whose health has been harmed by such infringements. 

set 

At the time of reporting, information for 2022 about the 
number of site visits carried out by Slovakia was available 
in the EU Registry. Out of over 511 installations covered by 
the IED, 233 site visits were reported (93). 

The development of best available techniques (BATs), BAT 
reference  documents  and  BAT  conclusions  ensures 
effective collaboration between stakeholders and enables 
better implementation of the IED. 

(93) 

The  Slovak  Environmental  Inspectorate  publishes  its  reports  on 
the national portal (https://www.enviroportal.sk/ipkz). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  28 

Slovakia, in 2022, an EEP was required for all 46 UTEs. In 
that year, they all had an EEP, and 34 of the plans had been 
tested  within  the  previous  three  years.  A  summary  is 
shown in Figure 22. 

Figure 22: Situation regarding EEPs in Slovakia, 2022 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
Implementing  Decision 
2014/896/EU 
involving 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States'  reports  on 
implementation  of  Directive  2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major 
accident hazards involving dangerous substances according to the format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

The information  for the public referred to in  Annex V to 
the Seveso III Directive – in particular how members of the 
public  concerned  will  be  warned  if  there  is  a  major 
accident;  the  appropriate  behaviour  in  the  event  of  a 
major  accident;  and  the  date  of  the  last  site  visit  to  an 
establishment –  are  permanently  available  for  96 %  of 
Seveso establishments in Slovakia. 

The  shares  of  UTEs  for  which  information  on  safety 
measures  and  requisite  behaviours  was  actively  made 
available to the public in 2022 for all Member States are 
presented in Figure 23. This provision on knowledge is an 
important  provision  of  the  Seveso III  Directive,  as  public 
awareness  of  this 
information  may  ameliorate  the 
consequences of a major industrial accident. 

Seveso III Directive (94)). 

The overview below of industrial plants regulated by the 
Seveso III Directive (‘Seveso establishments’) is based on 
data  reported  on  eSPIRS  (e-Seveso  Plants  Information 
Retrieval  System)  for  2022–2024) (95)  and  the  report  by 
Slovakia on the implementation of the Seveso III Directive 
for 2019–2022 (96). 

In Slovakia, in 2024, among the 79 Seveso establishments, 
34  were  categorised  as  lower-tier  establishments  (LTE) 
and 45 as upper-tier establishments (UTE), based on the 
quantity  of  hazardous  substances  likely  to  be  present. 
UTEs  are  subject  to  more  stringent  requirements.  The 
evolution  of  the  number  of  Seveso  establishments  is 
presented in Figure 21. 

Figure 21: Number of Seveso establishments in Slovakia, 
2018, 2022 and 2024 

NB: LTE, lower-tier establishment. 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
Implementing  Decision 
2014/896/EU 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
involving 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States'  reports  on 
implementation  of  Directive  2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major 
accident hazards involving dangerous substances according to the format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

Member  States  are  required  to  draw  up  external 
emergency plans (EEPs). These EEPs are essential to allow 
proper  preparation  and  effective  implementation  of  the 
necessary  actions  to  protect  the  environment  and  the 
population  should  a  major  industrial  accident  occur.  In 

(94)  Directive  2012/18/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  4 July  2012  on  the  control  of  major-accident  hazards 
involving  dangerous  substances,  amending  and  subsequently 
repealing  Council  Directive  96/82/EC  (OJ  L 197,  24.7.2012,  p. 1), 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2012/18/oj. 

(95) 

(96) 

https://espirs.jrc.ec.europa.eu/en/espirs/content; data extracted 
in September 2024.  
As provided for by Article 21(2) of the Seveso III Directive. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Figure 23: Share of UTEs for which information on safety 
measures and requisite behaviours were actively made 
available to the public per Member State (%), 2022 

NB: No data available for Greece. 

2022, 

Sources:  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Assessment and summary of Member States’ implementation reports for 
(implementing  Directive 
Implementing  Decision 
2014/896/EU 
2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major  accident  hazards 
involving 
dangerous  substances),  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/94d57d74-735b-11ec-9136-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF/source-search;  eSPIRS  data,  extractions  from  2022  and 
2024;  Analysis  and  summary  of  Member  States'  reports  on 
implementation  of  Directive  2012/18/EU  on  the  control  of  major 
accident hazards involving dangerous substances according to the format 
established  by  Commission  Implementing  Decision  2014/896/EU  - 
Publications  Office  of  the  EU,  https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-
detail/-/publication/9bd73087-e9b8-11ef-b5e9-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

• 

Strengthen  compliance  with  requirements  on  safety 
measures  to  prevent  major  accidents  and  ensure 
appropriate preparedness and response in relation to 
UTEs, in particular  as regards reviewing, testing and 
updating  EEPs,  at  intervals  of  no  more  than  three 
years. 
Ensure  access  to  transparent  and  clear  information 
for citizens on risks and behaviour in the event of an 
accident. 

Mercury Regulation 

The  Mercury  Regulation  establishes  measures  and 
conditions concerning the use and storage of and trade in 
mercury,  mercury  compounds  and  mixtures  of  mercury, 

Slovakia  29 

the manufacture and use of and trade in mercury-added 
products and the management of mercury waste, in order 
to ensure a high level of protection of human health and 
the  environment  from  anthropogenic  emissions  and 
releases of mercury and mercury compounds. The revision 
of the Mercury Regulation adopted in 2024 sets out rules 
to address the last intentional uses of mercury in the EU 
by  phasing  out  the  use  of  dental  amalgam  by  1 January 
2025 except when deemed strictly necessary by the dental 
practitioner  based  on  the  specific  medical  needs  of  the 
patient,  and  prohibiting  the  manufacture  and  export  of 
additional mercury-containing lamps from 1 January 2026 
or 1 January 2027 (depending on the lamp category). 

In 2019, 50 % of dental treatments were still using dental 
amalgam,  which  represented  a  challenge  for  Slovakia  to 
phase out its use by 1 January 2025. However, measures 
should  have  been  put  in  place  to  ensure  a  socially  and 
economically  sound  phase-out,  including  an  adequate 
reimbursement  of  the  alternatives  to  dental  amalgam 
through the health insurance scheme and the training of 
dental  practitioners.  The  Commission 
is  monitoring 
whether the phase-out  has taken place under the terms 
and conditions of the regulation. Slovakia will also need to 
ensure  that  the  manufacture  and  export  of  mercury-
containing lamps are prohibited by the deadlines set out 
in the Mercury Regulation. 

Noise 

The Environmental Noise Directive (97) requires a common 
approach to avoid, prevent and reduce the harmful effects 
of  noise.  The  designated  authorities  are  responsible  for 
making  and  approving  noise  maps  and  action  plans  for 
agglomerations,  major  roads,  major  railways  and  major 
airports.  Member  States  decide  on  noise  limits  that  are 
not  set  at  the  EU  level.  Nevertheless,  the  zero  pollution 
action  plan  sets  as  a  2030  target  a  30 %  reduction 
compared  with  2017  in  the  share  of  people  chronically 
disturbed by transport noise. 

Excessive noise from aircraft, railways and roads is one of 
the main causes of environmental health‐related issues in 
the  EU.  It  can  cause  ischaemic  heart  disease,  stroke, 
interrupted sleep, cognitive impairment and stress (98). 

In Slovakia, environmental noise is estimated to cause at 
ischaemic  heart  disease 
least  around  140  cases  of 

(97)  Directive  2002/49/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  of  25 June  2002  relating  to  the  assessment  and 
management  of  environmental  noise –  Declaration  by  the 
Commission  in  the  Conciliation  Committee  on  the  directive 
relating  to  the  assessment  and  management  of  environmental 
noise (OJ L 189, 18.7.2002, p. 12), https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32002L0049. 

(98)  WHO,  Environmental  Noise  Guidelines  for  the  European  Region, 
Copenhagen, 
2018, 
https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/978928905356
3. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
annually (99)  and  some  19 000  people  to  suffer  from 
disturbed sleep (100). 

Based on the latest set of information analysed, Slovakia 
has not  completed its noise mapping of agglomerations, 
roads and railways. 

Since Slovakia has failed to report to the Commission all 
relevant 
information  on  the  strategic  noise  maps, 
the 
including  noise  exposure  of 
Commission decided to open an infringement procedure 
against Slovakia. 

the  population, 

Action  plans  for  noise  management  for  agglomerations, 
roads,  railways  and  airports  must  be  updated  and 
submitted  to  the  Commission  every  five  years.  The 
deadline for reporting noise action plans under the most 
recent  reporting  cycle  was  18 January  2025;  these  have 
not been assessed as yet. 

Slovakia  received  a  priority  action  in  the  2022  EIR  to 
complete  noise  action plans. Given  that  reporting  under 
the most recent reporting cycle for noise action plans was 
due  in  early  2025,  these  have  not  been  assessed. 
Therefore, this priority action is maintained for the  2025 
EIR and another one is added on noise mapping. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Complete noise mapping. 
•  Complete  and  implement  action  plans  on  noise 

management. 

Water quality and management 

EU  legislation  and  policy  requires  that  the  impact  of 
pressures on transitional waters, coastal waters and fresh 
water  (including  surface  waters  and  groundwater)  be 
significantly reduced. Achieving, maintaining or enhancing 
a  good  status  of  waterbodies  as  defined  by  the  Water 

(99) 

These figures are an estimation by the EEA based on (i) the data 
reported  by  Member  States  on  noise  exposure  covered  by 
Directive 2002/49/EC for the round of noise mapping of 2022; (ii) 
European  Topic  Centre  on  Air  Pollution,  Transport,  Noise  and 
Industrial  Pollution  (ETC/ATNI),  Noise 
indicators  under  the 
Environmental Noise Directive 2021: Methodology for estimating 
missing data, Eionet report ETC/ATNI No 2021/06, Kjeller, 2021, ; 
and  (iii)  the  methodology  for  health  impact  calculations  in 
European  Topic  Centre  on  Air  Pollution  and  Climate  Change 
Mitigation  (ETC/ACM),  Implications  of  environmental  noise  on 
in  Europe,  Eionet  report  ETC/ACM 
health  and  wellbeing 
2018, 
No 2018/10, 
https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-atni/products/etc-atni-
reports/eionet_rep_etcacm_2018_10_healthimplicationsnoise.) 

Bilthoven, 

(100)  More information on the adverse health effects of noise pollution 

is available at: 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/human/noise/noise-2 

(101)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32000L0060. 

(102)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water_en. 

Slovakia  30 

Framework Directive will ensure that EU citizens and the 
environment benefit from good-quality and safe drinking 
and bathing water. It will further ensure that the nutrient 
cycle  (nitrogen  and  phosphorus)  is  managed  in  a  more 
sustainable and resource-efficient way. 

Water Framework Directive 

Directive 

The Water Framework Directive (101) is the cornerstone of 
EU  water  policy  in  the  21st  century (102).  The  Water 
Framework 
other  water-related 
and 
directives (103) form the basis of sustainable and integrated 
water management in the EU. They aim to achieve a high 
level  of  protection  of  water  resources,  prevention  of 
further  deterioration  and  restoration  to  good  status. 
These  objectives  are  very 
important  for  the  EU’s 
competitiveness,  strategic  autonomy  and  security,  yet 
have become even more challenging in the face of climate 
change affecting our precious water resources. 

The Water Framework Directive establishes a procedural 
framework for reaching good surface water ecological and 
chemical  status  and  good  groundwater  quantitative  and 
chemical status. This implies monitoring and classification 
of all waterbodies, assessment  of pressures and impacts 
and identification of the most cost-effective measures to 
achieve the objectives of the directive. The directive dates 
from 2000 and set an initial deadline of 2015 for achieving 
its objectives, with the option to extend the deadline to 
the  end  of  2027.  Every  six  years,  Member  States  must 
report their river basin management plans (RBMPs) to the 
Commission. They should cover river basin districts in their 
countries,  some  of  which  may  be  shared  with  other 
countries. The Commission has assessed the third cycle of 
RBMPs, which were to be submitted by March 2022, and 
reported  its  findings  to  the  European  Parliament  and  to 
the Council on 4th February 2025 (104). 

(103)  These 

the 

Floods 

include 

the  Groundwater  Directive 

(https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32006L0118), 
the  Environmental  Quality  Standards  Directive  (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2008/105/oj), 
Directive 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32007L0060), the Bathing Water 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
Directive 
Urban 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A32006L0007), 
Wastewater 
(https://eur-
Directive 
lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex%3A31991L0271), 
the 
(https://eur-
new 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
Nitrates 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32020L2184), 
Directive 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=celex%3A31991L0676), the Marine Strategy 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
Framework 
Directive 
IED 
content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32008L0056) 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32010L0075). 

Drinking  Water 

Treatment 

Directive 

and 

the 

the 

the 

(104)  ENV - Bibliothèque 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
  
Slovakia  has  1 351  surface  waterbodies  and  106 
groundwater bodies, divided over two river basin districts 
(Vistula  and  Danube).  Approximately  20 %  of  surface 
waters are designated as ‘heavily modified’ and about 4 % 
as  ‘artificial’.  Heavily  modified  and  artificial  waterbodies 
must  reach  good  ecological  potential  rather  than  good 
ecological status, which means that all measures must be 
taken  to  mitigate  the  adverse  impact  of  the  sustainable 
human development  activities causing the waterbody to 
be  heavily  modified /  artificial,  while  not  significantly 
affecting these activities. 

It  follows  from  the  assessment  of  the  third  RBMPs  that 
there has been significant deterioration in the ecological 
status/potential  and  in  the  chemical  status  of  surface 
waterbodies compared with the second RBMPs (covering 
2015–2021).  Regarding  groundwater  bodies, 
the 
monitoring  network  has  been  improved  in  extent  and 
quality,  and  the  status  of  all  groudwater  bodies  is  now 
known. There has been a significant improvement in the 
quantitative  status  and  chemical  status  of  groundwater 
bodies. 

The  figures  below  show  the  evolution  of  ecological 
status/potential and of chemical status of surface waters, 
and of quantitative and chemical status of groundwater in 
2010, 2015 and 2021. 

Figure 24: Ecological status/potential of surface 
waterbodies in each RBMP cycle (%) 

good 

Since  the  second  RBMPs,  the  number  of  surface 
waterbodies  with 
ecological 
status/potential  have  decreased  significantly,  from  56 % 
to  41 %.  By  2027,  67.7 %  of  surface  waterbodies  are 
expected  to  have  good  ecological  status/potential,  with 
many expected to have high status. 

better 

or 

that  nutrient  pollution 

Although  data  suggest 
is 
decreasing,  agricultural  eutrophication  still  exerts  high 
pressure  on  surface  waterbodies.  Hydromorphological 
alterations, such as disruption of longitudinal continuity, 
are  another  source  of  pressure.  Emerging  issues  are 
invasive  species,  sediment  management  and 
fish 
management. 

Slovakia  31 

Figure 25: Chemical status of surface waterbodies in 
each RBMP cycle (%) 

Since  the  second  RBMPs,  there  has  been  a  significant 
decrease  in  surface  waterbodies  with  good  chemical 
status,  from  98 %  to  71 %.  This  is  reported  to  be  mostly 
due to improved monitoring and increased confidence in 
classification. 

and 

Failure to achieve good chemical  status is mostly due to 
ubiquitous  persistent  bioaccumulative 
toxic 
substances, which are difficult to address and often have 
transboundary  sources.  In  Slovakia,  these  are  mainly 
mercury,  polybrominated  diphenyl  ethers  and  polycyclic 
aromatic  hydrocarbons.  Pollution  from  industrial  point 
sources  is  higlighted  as  a  significant  pressure,  as  well  as 
organic  pollution  from  municipal  point  sources  and 
industry/agriculture. 

Figure 26: Quantitative status of groundwater bodies in 
each RBMP cycle (%) 

90.6 % of groundwater bodies are reported to have good 
quantitative  status,  showing  a  significant  improvement 
since  the  second  RBMPs.  The  monitoring  network  has 
been improved in extent and quality, and  there are now 
no groundwater bodies with an unknown status. 

It has been reported that water scarcity can be considered 
an emerging issue due to climate change. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

0 20 40 60  0 100 1st2nd3rdS B chemical status for S GoodFailing to achieve goodUnknown 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  32 

achieved in relation to justifying  Article 4(7) exemptions: 
the  assessment  of  each  exemption  is  very  detailed; 
however,  it  is  not  entirely  clear  whether  cumulative 
effects  have  been  explicitly  considered.  With  regard  to 
nitrate pollution, much remains to be done. 

A positive point  is that there has been a  very significant 
increase, more than a three-fold increase, in the number 
of  monitoring  sites  for  ecological  status/potential  of 
surface waterbodies, compared  with the  second RBMPs. 
The share of surface waterbodies that are monitored for 
chemical status has also increased, as has the number of 
groundwater  bodies  subject  to  monitoring  to  establish 
their  quantitative  status.  Slovakia  performs  a  sound 
monitoring  of  groundwater  chemical  status.  Another 
positive aspect is the cooperation on the Danube. Slovakia 
is  part  of  the  international  agreement  and  permanent 
cooperation body on the Danube international river basin 
district, which has developed in addition an international 
RBMP for the Danube. 

2025 priority actions 

Without prejudice to the list of recommended actions in 
the Commission report to the European Parliament and to 
the  Council  on  the  assessment  of  the  third  RBMPs,  the 
following priority actions can be highlighted. 

•  Develop  more  robust  programmes  of  measures, 
tackle  obstacles  identified  in  the  implementation  of 
for 
measures,  and  ensure  adequate 
implementation, including through better use of cost 
recovery and polluter-pays principle. 

financing 

•  Reduce  pollution  from  nutrients,  chemicals,  metals 

• 

• 

and saline discharges. 
Improve  river  continuity  and  ecological 
flows, 
boosting efforts on nature-based solutions to reduce 
hydromorphological pressures. 
Improve  the  classification  of  water  bodies  and 
strengthen monitoring systems. 

Floods Directives 

Every six years, following the same reporting cycle as the 
RBMPs,  all  Member  States  report  their  flood  risk 
management  plans  (FRMPs),  based  on  the  flood  hazard 
and risk maps and the preliminary flood risk assessments 
drawn up during the second cycle (2016–2021). 

The  Commission  assessed  the  FRMPs  and  reported  its 
findings to the European Parliament and to the Council on 

Figure 27: Chemical status of groundwater bodies in 
each RBMP cycle (%) 

80.2 % of groundwater bodies are reported to have good 
chemical status, showing a significant improvement since 
the  second  RBMPs.  The  monitoring  network  has  been 
improved  in  extent  and  quality,  and  fewer  groundwater 
bodies have an unknown status now. 

Although  there  has  been  an  apparent  improvement  in 
status,  a  significant  sustained  upwards 
in 
concentrations  of  pollutants (nutrients  and  total  organic 
carbon) has been reported. 

trend 

In  February  2022,  the  Commission  continued  the 
infringement  procedure  against  Slovakia (105)  as  regards 
authorisation of small hydropower plants. The focus is on 
insufficient  assessment  of  the  Slovak  strategic  planning 
document  as  well  as  the  lack  of  assessment  of  several 
constructed 
causing 
deterioration  of  waterbodies.  Slovakia  needs  to  take  all 
necessary  mitigation  measures  to  reduce  the  harmful 
impacts of (small) hydropower plants installed along  the 
River Hron and other rivers. 

hydroelectric 

power 

plants 

Until the end of 2027, Member States can still apply time-
related  exemptions,  subject  to  providing  evidence  of 
compliance  with  the  strict  criteria  set  out  in  the  Water 
Framework  Directive.  After  2027,  the  possibilities  for 
applying exemptions will be much more limited. 

The 2022 EIR identified the following priority actions. 

•  Assess new physical modifications of waterbodies in 
line  with  Article 4(7)  of  the  Water  Framework 
Directive,  and  consider  alternative  options  and 
adequate mitigation measures in these assessments. 
•  Continue  current  efforts  to  further  reduce  nitrate 

pollution from agriculture in groundwater. 

Some  progress  has  been  made  as  a  follow-up  to  these 
priority actions. In particular, significant progress has been 

(105) 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf_22_
601. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
4th  February  2025,  together  with  the  assessment  of  the 
RBMPs. 

Regrettably,  Slovakia  failed  to  comply  with  its  legal 
obligation and did not report the second flood hazard risk 
maps  and  the  second  FRMPs  in  time.  As  a  result  of  this 
failure, the Commission was not in a position to assess the 
plans  and  include  such  assessment  in  its  report  to  the 
European Parliament and to the Council. 

As a consequence, the EIR report could not be updated for 
Slovakia with respect to the implementation of the Floods 
Directive, and reference is made to the previous EIR report 
for an overview of the main issues (106).  

The  failure  to  review  and  adopt  the  second  FRMPs  is 
subject to infringement. Slovakia was referred to the Court 
of  Justice  of  the  European  Union  in  April  2024.  Slovakia 
informed  the  Commission  on  18  March  2025  that  the 
FRMPs were submitted on 6 March 2025. 

Drinking Water Directive 

The recast Drinking Water Directive is now applicable, and 
Member States were required to transpose its provisions 
into their national legal systems by 12 January 2023. Since 
into  force  of  the  recast  directive,  the 
the  entry 
several  delegated  and 
Commission  has  adopted 
implementing  acts  establishing  (i)  a  watch 
list  of 
substances  and  compounds  of  concern  for  drinking 
water (107), (ii) a methodology for measuring microplastics 
in drinking water (108) and (iii) an EU system for testing and 
approving materials that will be allowed to be in contact 
with drinking water (109). Member States will have to take 
into  account  when 
these  various  Commission  acts 
implementing the recast directive. 

Finally,  the  Commission  has  now  received  data  from 
Member States on the quality of drinking water in 2017–
2019.  The  quality  of  drinking  water  (supplied  by  large 
water  suppliers) 
in  Slovakia  does  not  give  rise  to 
concern (110). 

(106)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/law-and-

governance/environmental-implementation-review_en - country-
reports. 

(107)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/implementing-

decision-drinking-water-directive-watch-list_en. 

(108)  Commission Delegated Decision (EU) 2024/1441 of 11 March 2024 
supplementing  Directive  (EU)  2020/2184  of  the  European 
Parliament and of the Council by laying down a methodology to 
measure microplastics in water intended for human consumption 
(notified  under  document  C(2024) 1459)  (OJ  L,  2024/1441, 
21.5.2024), http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_del/2024/1441/oj. 
2024/365, 

23.4.2024, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/365/oj; OJ L, 2024/367, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/367/oj; 
23.4.2024, 
23.4.2024, 
OJ L, 

(109)  OJ L, 

2024/369, 

Slovakia  33 

From  January  2026,  the  European  quality  standards  for 
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water will 
apply, ensuring harmonised Member States’ reporting of 
per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance monitoring data in the 
future. 

Bathing Water Directive 

The  Bathing  Water  Directive  requires  Member  States  to 
monitor and assess bathing water. It requires that, during 
the  bathing  season,  Member  States  disseminate  to  the 
public information on bathing water quality actively and 
promptly. In particular, notices banning or advising against 
bathing should be rapidly and easily identifiable. 

Figure 28  shows  that  in  2023,  out  of  32  Slovak  bathing 
waters, 71.9 % were of excellent  quality, 18.8 % were of 
good  quality  and  3.1 %  were  of  sufficient  quality.  No 
bathing waters were found to be of poor quality. Detailed 
information on Slovak bathing waters is available from a 
national portal (111) and through an interactive map viewer 
of the EEA (112). 

Figure 28: Bathing water quality per Member State, 
Albania and Switzerland (%), 2023 

Source:  EEA,  European  Bathing  Water  Quality 
No 04/2024, 
https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/european-bathing-water-
quality-in-2023/. 

in  2023,  briefing 
2024, 

Copenhagen, 

2024/370, 

http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/369/oj;  OJ L,  2024/368, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2024/368/oj; 
23.4.2024, 
OJ L, 
23.4.2024, 
http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/370/oj;  OJ L,  2024/371, 
23.4.2024,  http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg_del/2024/371/oj;  see 
the  Commission  web  page  on  all  six  delegated  acts  for  more 
information 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/delegated-acts-
drinking-water-directive_en). 
In summary, the compliance for all parameter groups in Slovakia 
was at least 99.47 % in 2017, 99.59 % in 2018 and 99.49 % in 2019. 

(110) 

(111)

https://www.uvzsr.sk/index.php?option=com_content&view

=category&layout=blog&id=167&Itemid=65. 
(112)  EEA, ‘State of bathing water’, EEA website, 2024,  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Nitrates Directive 

The  Nitrates  Directive (113)  aims  to  protect  water  quality 
across  Europe  by  preventing  nitrates  from  agricultural 
sources polluting groundwater and surface waters and by 
promoting the use of good farming practices. 

The  latest  Commission  report  on  the  implementation  of 
the Nitrates Directive (114), dating back to 2021, warns that 
nitrates are still causing harmful pollution to water in the 
EU. Excessive nitrates in water are harmful to both human 
health  and  ecosystems,  causing  oxygen  depletion  and 
eutrophication. Cleaning of waters by national authorities 
or  farmers,  where  it  has  been  undertaken,  has  had  a 
positive  impact  on  the  drinking  water  supply  and  on 
biodiversity.  It  has  also  benefited  the  sectors –  such  as 
fisheries and tourism – that depend on biodiversity and on 
a good supply of drinking water. Nevertheless, excessive 
fertilisation remains a  problem in  many parts of the EU. 
The  report  on  the 
implementation  of  the  Nitrates 
Directive covering 2020–2023 will be available in 2025. 

The analysis of Slovakia’s RBMPs has identified nutrients 
from  agriculture  as  an 
important  pressure  on 
groundwater /  surface  waters  that  is  impacting  these 
waters’ good status and as one of the main factors in not 
meeting the Water Framework Directive objectives. 

In  2022,  Slovakia  received  a  priority  action  on  tackling 
nutrient pollution, especially from agriculture, through the 
implementation of the Nitrates Directive. Since the report 
on the implementation of the Nitrates Directive covering 
2020–2023 will not be available until 2025, the 2022 EIR 
priority action cannot be assessed and is repeated. 

2025 priority action 

•  Tackle  nutrient  pollution,  especially  nitrates  from 
implementation  of  the 

agriculture,  through  the 
Nitrates Directive. 

Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive 

The  Urban  Wastewater  Treatment  Directive  (UWWTD) 
aims to protect human health and the environment from 
the effects of untreated urban waste water. It therefore 
requires Member States to collect and treat (secondary or 
biological  treatment)  waste  water  in  all  urban  areas  of 
more  than  2 000  people,  and  to  apply  a  more  stringent 
treatment 
than  secondary,  with  nitrogen  and/or 
phosphorus  removal,  to  the  waste  water  generated  in 

Slovakia  34 

urban areas, also known as agglomerations, of more than 
10 000 people, before they are discharged into waters and 
their  catchments,  when  they  are  sensitive  to  nitrogen 
and/or phosphorus (i.e. eutrophic or tending to become 
eutrophic). 

In  Slovakia,  319  agglomerations  complied  with  the 
in  2020.  Thirty-seven 
requirements  of  the  directive 
population 
246 150 
agglomerations, 
equivalent of urban waste water, did not comply with the 
requirements of the directive. 

generating 

Figure 29:  Proportion  of  urban  waste  water  that  fully 
complies with the UWWTD (%), 2020 

Source:  European  Commission,  12th  UWWTD  Implementation  Report, 
2024. 

Despite  the  improvement  in  compliance  throughout  the 
years,  for  which  the  use  of  EU  funding  has  been 
fundamental,  the  incomplete  implementation  of  the 
UWWTD led to an infringement case being opened against 
Slovakia  in  2021,  in  addition  to  the  one  initiated  in 
2016 (115). Both infringement cases are advancing, and it is 
likely  that  they  will  reach  the  court.  It  is  essential  that 
Slovakia  takes  the  necessary  measures  to  fully  comply 
with the requirements of the  directive, as there is still a 
significant implementation gap. 

This  is  all  the  more  important  as  the  directive  has  been 
revised  (116).  The  revised  directive  builds  on  the  current 
acquis,  strengthens  existing  treatment  standards  and 
establishes a new additional treatment of micropollutants 
in urban waste water. Other new requirements relate to 
moving 
the  sector, 
establishing an EPR system to ensure sustainable financing 
of  micropollutant  treatment  by  the  most  polluting 
industries and ensuring access to sanitation, especially for 
vulnerable  and  marginalised  groups.  Slovakia  has  until 

towards  energy  neutrality  of 

(113)  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

(115)

content/EN/TXT/?qid=1561542776070&uri=CELEX:01991L0676-
20081211. 

(114)  https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/water/nitrates_en. 

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf

_21_6201. 

(116)  Directive (EU) 2024/3019 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  27  November  2024  concerning  urban  wastewater 
treatment (recast). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
31 July  2027  to  transpose  the  new  directive  into  its 
national legal system. 

Despite  some  progress  made,  Slovakia  has  not  fully 
implemented the UWWTD. 

2025 priority action 

• 

the  necessary  measures 

Take 
full 
implementation  of  the  current  UWWTD,  taking  into 
account the new requirements of the recast directive. 

to  ensure 

Chemicals 

The EU seeks to ensure that chemicals are produced and 
used  in  a  way  that  minimises  any  significant  adverse 
effects on human health and the environment. In October 
2020, the Commission published its chemicals strategy for 
sustainability  towards  a  toxic-free  environment (117), 
which  led  to  some  systemic  changes  in  EU  chemicals 
legislation. The strategy is part of the EU’s zero pollution 
ambition –  a  key  commitment  of  the  European  Green 
Deal. 

The  EU’s  chemicals  legislation (118)  provides  a  baseline 
protection for human health and the environment. It also 
for  businesses 
ensures  stability  and  predictability 
operating in the internal market. 

Since 2007, the Commission has gathered information on 
the  enforcement  of 
the  Registration,  Evaluation, 
Authorisation  and  Restriction  of  Chemicals  (REACH) 
Regulation and the Classification, Labelling and Packaging 

(117)  Communication 

to 

from 

the  Commission 

the  European 
Parliament,  the  Council,  the  European  Economic  and  Social 
Committee  and  the  Committee  of  the  Regions –  Chemicals 
strategy  for  sustainability:  Towards  a  toxic-free  environment, 
final  of  14 October  2020,  https://eur-
COM(2020) 667 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM%3A2020%3A667%3AFIN;  Regulation 
(EC) No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of 
substances  and  mixtures,  amending  and  repealing  Directives 
67/548/EEC  and  1999/45/EC,  and  amending  Regulation  (EC) 
No 1907/2006 
p. 1), 
L 353, 
https://publications.europa.eu/resource/cellar/c6b6a31d-8359-
11ee-99ba-01aa75ed71a1.0004.02/DOC_2. 

31.12.2008, 

(OJ 

(118)  Namely,  Regulation 

(EC)  No 1907/2006  of  the  European 
Parliament  and  of  the  Council  of  18 December  2006  concerning 
the  registration,  evaluation,  authorisation  and  restriction  of 
chemicals  (REACH)  establishing  a  European  Chemicals  Agency, 
amending Directive 1999/45/EC and repealing Council Regulation 
(EEC) No 793/93 and Commission Regulation (EC) No 1488/94 as 
well as Council Directive 76/769/EEC and Commission Directives 
91/155/EEC,  93/67/EEC,  93/105/EC  and  2000/21/EC  (OJ  L 396, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
30/12/2006, 
content/en/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32006R1907;  Regulation 
(EC) 
No 1272/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 
16 December 2008 on classification, labelling and packaging 
of  substances  and  mixtures,  amending  and  repealing  Directives 
67/548/EEC  and  1999/45/EC,  and  amending  Regulation  (EC) 

p. 1), 

Slovakia  35 

of 

and 

enforcement 

(CLP)  Regulation.  In  December  2020,  the  Commission 
assessed  the  Member  States’  reports (119)  on  the 
implementation 
these 
regulations (120).  It  is  apparent  from  the  Commission’s 
in  the 
report  that  there  are  still  many  disparities 
implementation  of  the  REACH  and  CLP  Regulations, 
notably 
law  enforcement.  Recorded 
compliance levels in Member States, generally quite stable 
over time, appear to be getting slightly worse. This may be 
because  (i)  enforcement  authorities  are  becoming  more 
effective in detecting non-compliant products/companies 
and (ii) more non-compliant products are being placed on 
the EU market. 

in  the  area  of 

In August 2021, the Commission published a measurable 
assessment  of the enforcement (121) of the two  main EU 
regulations  on  chemicals  using  a  set  of  indicators  on 
different  aspects  of  enforcement.  Since  2021,  the  list  of 
chemicals  subject  to  restrictions  has  been  expanded  as 
new entries have been added to Annex XVII to the REACH 
Regulation (122). 

In  2023,  new  hazard  classes  were  added  to  the  CLP 
Regulation, and the revision of the regulation was tabled 
(published  on  20 November  2024)  (123).  The  new  hazard 
classes  cover  endocrine  disruptors  and  persistence-
related  hazards  while  the  revision  of  the  regulation 
encompasses  new  rules  on  online  sales  to  better  tackle 
non-compliances  observed  over  the  years.  Also  in  2023, 
the  Conference  of  the  Parties  of  the  Stockholm 
Convention (COP) decided to include, in its Annex A (which 

L 353,  31.12.2008,  p. 1),  https://eur-

No 1907/2006 
(OJ 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02008R1272-20221217. 
(119)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
European 
2020, 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details. 
In 
Article 46(2) of the CLP Regulation. 

line  with  Article 117(1)  of  the  REACH  Regulation  and 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

(120) 

the 

European 

(121)  European  Commission,  Directorate-General  for  Internal  Market, 
Industry,  Entrepreneurship  and  SMEs,  REACH  and  CLP 
Enforcement: EU-level enforcement indicators, Publications Office 
of 
2021, 
Union, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/e5c3e461-0f85-11ec-9151-01aa75ed71a1/. 
(122)  These are substances in tattoo inks and permanent make-up, N,N-
dimethylformamide, formaldehyde (and formaldehyde releasers), 
lead in PVC (polyvinyl chloride), siloxanes (D4, D5, D6) and, finally, 
microplastics. 

Luxembourg, 

(123)  Regulation (EU) 2024/2865 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  23  October  2024  amending  Regulation  (EC)  No 
1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances 
and mixtures, OJ L, 2024/2865, 20.11.2024, p.1 (Regulation - EU - 
2024/2865 - EN - EUR-Lex). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
lists  banned  substances),  three  new  chemicals (124).  The 
Commission  is  working  on  the  delegated  acts  to  include 
these  substances  in  Annex I  to  the  Persistent  Organic 
Pollutants Regulation by 2025 at the latest. 

presented above cannot be considered the average non-
compliance  rates  of  products  in  the  EU.  However,  the 
proportion  of  non-compliance  cases  found  in  the  REF-8 
project are of concern. 

Slovakia  36 

Figure 31: Number of REF-8 checks performed per 
100 000 inhabitants (EU average = 1.24) 

The  Member  States’  reporting  exercise  set  out 
in 
Article 117 of the REACH Regulation and Article 46 of the 
CLP Regulation is conducted every five years. The results 
of  the  coming  one  are  expected  in  2025,  hence  the 
absence  of  new  country-specific  data  on  enforcement 
since 2022. 

In the previous report, it was indicated that Slovakia had 
allocated 17 staff to  enforcement of the  REACH and CLP 
Regulations (125).  

In  2020,  Slovakia  participated  in  an  EU-coordinated 
enforcement  project  on  products  sold  online,  called  the 
REACH-EN-FORCE  (REF)-8  project (126).  The  report  was 
adopted in November 2021, so it could not be taken into 
account in the previous EIR. 

Figure 30: Compliance of imported products – results of 
the REF-8 project (%) 

Slovakia’s  participation  in  the  coordinated  enforcement 
project (REF-8) was above the EU average, which is rather 
low  because  of  the  lack  of  involvement  of  certain  large 
Member States. 

From this project and others conducted with the help of 
the  European  Chemicals  Agency  (ECHA)  in  recent  years, 
online sales have been proved to correspond consistently 
to  higher  non-compliance  rates  in  checks  performed 
across  the  EU,  in  particular  when  related  to  imported 
products. 

In  2022,  Slovakia  received  a  priority  action  related  to 
upgrading the administrative capacities in implementation 
and  enforcement  to  move  towards  a  policy  of  zero 
tolerance of instances of non-compliance. In the absence 
of  reporting  since  2022,  no  progress  has  been  reported 

(126)  European Chemicals Agency, REF-8 project report on enforcement 
of the CLP, REACH and BPR duties related to substances, mixtures 
and 
p. 20, 
https://echa.europa.eu/documents/10162/17088/project_report
_ref-8_en.pdf/ccf2c453-da0e-c185-908e-
3a0343b25802?t=1638885422475. 

Helsinki, 

articles 

online, 

sold 

A  risk  approach  was  used  for  the  targeting  of  control 
measures in order to maximise the chances of identifying 
non-compliances.  Therefore,  the  non-compliance  rates 

(124)  These are methoxychlor, dechlorane plus and UV-328. In the case 
of the pesticide methoxychlor, there are no exemptions from the 
ban. However, for the two plastic additives, dechlorane plus and 
lists  some  time-limited  specific 
UV-328,  the  COP  decision 
exemptions. 

(125)  European Commission, Technical assistance to review the existing 
Member  States  reporting  questionnaire  under  Articles 117(1)  of 
REACH and 46(2) of CLP – Final report, Publications Office of the 
p. 75, 
European 
https://circabc.europa.eu/ui/group/8ee3c69a-bccb-4f22-89ca-
277e35de7c63/library/a4abce8c-8425-455f-b7e6-
0ead917bde6b/details.  

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

2020, 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
and this priority action remains valid in 2025. This is also 
because of the experience with the REF-8 project. 

2025 priority actions 

• 

•  Upgrade 

the 

in 
administrative 
implementation and enforcement to move towards a 
policy of zero tolerance of non-compliance. 
Increase involvement in the activities of the Forum for 
Exchange  of  Information  on  Enforcement  of  the 

capacities 

• 

Slovakia  37 

including 

the 
European  Chemicals  Agency, 
coordinated  enforcement  projects,  called  REF 
projects. 
Increase customs checks and checks of products sold 
online  with  regard  to  compliance  with  chemicals 
legislation. 

in 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  38 

4. Climate action 

the  EU  has  demonstrated 

The  impacts  of  climate  change  have  continued  to 
increase in recent years, inflicting damage and suffering 
in the EU and around the world. Globally, 2023 was the 
hottest year on record, while Europe has been warming 
twice  as  quickly  as  the  global  average,  and  is  now  the 
fastest-warming  continent.  The  frequency  and  severity 
of  extreme  climate  events  are  also  increasing.  Against 
this  backdrop, 
its 
determination  to  implement  the  European  Green  Deal 
and  to  become  climate  neutral  and  resilient  by  2050, 
ensuring sustainable competitiveness and supporting EU 
industry in the net-zero transition. The European Climate 
Law is the EU’s response to the need for action. It sets 
the objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and 
a midterm target of a reduction in GHG emissions of at 
least 55 % by 2030, and outlines the adaptation efforts 
necessary  to  adjust  to  climate  change’s  present  and 
future impacts. Almost  all the  ‘Fit for 55’ proposals set 
out in the European Green Deal have been agreed in law, 
and  the  European  Commission  recommended  a  new 
intermediate  climate  target  of  a  90 %  reduction  in 
emissions  by  2040. 
In  2024,  the  Member  States 
submitted updated national energy and climate plans for 
2021–2030,  reflecting  the  increased  ambition  of  the 
revised EU legislation. In 2024, the European Commission 
also  released, 
jointly  with  the  EEA,  the  first-ever 
European climate risk assessment. 

Over  the  last  three  decades,  since  1990,  the  EU  has 
achieved  steady  decreases  in  its  emissions,  reaching  a 
running total in 2022 of –32.5 % (127). However, the  EU 
and 
its  Member  States  need  to  step  up  their 
implementation  efforts  and  accelerate  emissions 
reduction to stay on track to reach their targets of a 55 % 
reduction  in  net  GHG  emissions  by  2030  and  climate 
neutrality  by  2050.  Between  1990  and  2022,  net  GHG 
emissions of Slovakia decreased by 54 %, making it one 
of the countries with an above-average decrease. 

transition. 

the  green 

The  ‘Fit  for  55’  legislative  package  reflects  the  need  to 
speed  up 
(i) 
strengthening  and  expanding  the  EU  emissions  trading 
system (ETS), with the creation of a new, second, ETS for 
transport and buildings together with a dedicated Social 
Climate  Fund  to  help  citizens  during  the  transition;  (ii) 
increasing  targets  under  the  effort  sharing  regulation; 

includes 

It 

and  (iii)  a  revised  regulation  for  Land  Use,  Land  Use 
Change  and  Forestry (128).  The  package  has  been  fully 
adopted,  and 
the  Member  States  have  been 
implementing the legislation. 

The  key  strategic  document  at  country  level  is  the 
National  Energy  and  Climate  Plan  (NECP) (129).  Slovakia 
had not submitted the NECP by the end of March 2025. 
The legal deadline for the submission was in June 2024, 
as set by the Regulation on the Governance of the Energy 
Union and Climate Action (130).  

To minimise the impacts of climate policies on vulnerable 
people and sectors, Slovakia is using the Just Transition 
Fund,  Modernisation  Fund  and  will  use  Social  Climate 
Fund  from  2026  (for  more  information,  see  Chapter 5 
(Financing)). 

Figure 32: Total GHG emissions (excluding 
international aviation) (%), 1990–2022 

The EU emissions trading system 

The EU ETS is the key tool for reducing  GHG emissions 
cost-effectively across all Member States. It is the world’s 
biggest carbon market, covering around 40 % of the EU’s 
total  GHG  emissions 
from  electricity  and  heat 
generation, the manufacturing industry, aviation within 
Europe (131) and, from 2024, maritime transport also. 

The  system  sets  a  limit  or  cap  on  the  total  amount  of 
GHGs  that  can  be  emitted  at  the  EU  level.  Within  this 
(one 
limit,  companies  buy  emissions  allowances 
allowance  gives  the  right  to  emit  1 tonne  of  CO2  eq 

(127)  EU net domestic emissions, including the land use, land-use 
change and forestry (LULUCF) sector and excluding 
international aviation.  

(128)  A full overview of the Fit for 55 package is available at 

https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/priorities-
2019-2024/european-green-deal/delivering-european-green-
deal/fit-55-delivering-proposals_en. 

(129)  More information about NECP is on the dedicated website 

https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-strategy/national-
energy-and-climate-plans-necps_en. 

(130)  Article  14  of  Regulation  2018/1999  on  the  Governance  of  the 

Energy Union and Climate Action 

(131)  Flights between the EU Member States including departing 

flights to Norway, Iceland, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  39 

(carbon  dioxide  equivalent)),  in  auctions  or  through 
trading  allowances  with  others.  The  cap  is  reduced 
annually to ensure that overall emissions in the sectors 
covered decrease over time. 

The  emissions  under  the  ETS  decreased  by  41 %  from 
2005 to 2023. 

In 2023, about a fifth of the greenhouse gases emitted by 
Slovakia’s ETS installations came from power generation, 
significantly less than the EU average (57 %). Of the total 
emissions  from  all  industry  sectors,  cement  and  lime 
production emitted a  fifth,  9 % and  7 % came from the 
chemical industry and refineries, respectively, 40 % came 
from  the  metals  industry,  and  24 %  were  attributed  to 
other  industries.  Between  2019  and  2023,  the  power 
sector  reduced  emissions  by  33 %,  while  those  of  the 
industry sectors declined by 9 %. Since 2013, greenhouse 
gas emissions have declined by 44 % in power generation 
and  by  14 %  in  the  industry  sectors –  with  a  large 
decrease  (39 %)  in  the  metals  industry  and  a  slight 
increase in cement and lime production (7 %) – leading 
to a total greenhouse gas emissions reduction of 22 % in 
this period. 

From 2027, a new emissions trading system, called ETS2, 
for  buildings,  road  transport  and  additional  sectors, 
(mainly  industry  not  covered  by  the  current  ETS)  will 
become  fully  operational (132).  Member  States  should 
have  notified  full  transposition  the  provisions  of  the 
revised  EU  ETS  directive  related  to  the  new  ETS2  into 
national 
law  by  30 June  2024.  Slovakia  did  not 
communicate full transposition into national law by this 
deadline.  The  Commission 
therefore  opened  an 
infringement procedure against Slovakia on 25 July 2024, 
by  sending  a  letter  of  formal  notice  for  failing  to  fully 
transpose the provisions into national law. 

Slovakia has since partially notified transposition of the 
relevant  provisions  of  the  ETS  2  Directive  to  the 
Commission. The monitoring and reporting requirements 
and the obligation to hold a permit to carry out activities 
under ETS2 will commence on 1 January 2025. 

The  Commission  also  opened  infringement  procedures 
against Slovakia on 25 January 2024, by sending a letter of 
formal  notice  for  failing  to  fully  transpose  previous 
revisions of ETS directive (133) into national law. Slovakia 
has since  notified  partial  transposition  of  either  one  or 
both  revisions  to  the  Commission.  In  the  absence  of  a 
complete transposition, the Commission may decide to 
issue a reasoned opinion. 

Effort sharing 

The  Effort  Sharing  Regulation (ESR) (134)  covers  GHG 
emissions  from  domestic  transport  (excluding  CO₂ 
emissions  from  aviation),  buildings,  agriculture,  small 
industry  and  waste.  Emissions  from  these  sectors 
account for around 60 % of the EU’s domestic emissions. 
The  regulation  sets  the  EU-wide  target  to  reduce 
emissions  from  the  effort  sharing  sectors  by  40 %  by 
2030 compared to 2005 levels. This overall target for the 
EU  translates  to  binding  national  emission  reduction 
targets  for  each  Member  State.  Slovakia‘s  target  is  –
22.7 %. 

In  addition  to  the  2030  targets,  Member  States  have 
annual  GHG  emissions 
(annual  emission 
allocations), reducing every year until 2030. 

limits 

There  is  some  flexibility  to  take  account  of  annual 
fluctuations  in  emissions,  by  trading  emissions  and 
transfers from the ETS and LULUCF. 

Based  on  historical  emissions  and  the  most  updated 
projections  Slovakia  will  need  to 
implement  new 
measures and/or use available flexibilities to achieve its 
2030 ESR target. Projected gap is 11.1 percentage points 
to the 2030 target. 

The largest contributor is the domestic transport sector, 
which accounted for 39 % of all effort sharing emissions 
in  2022.  The  sector  is  a  very  high  concern  for  Slovakia 
because emissions have increased by 1.5 % since 2005. 
Slovakia  still  has  progress  to  make  on  its  transition  to 
sustainable  mobility.  In  2022,  battery  electric  vehicles 
accounted for 0.2 % of Slovakia’s passenger vehicle fleet 
(EU  average  is  1.2 %).  Its  2  100  publicly  accessible 
charging  points  provided  one  charging  point  for  every 
four e-vehicles, above the EU average of 1:10. Passenger 
cars accounted for 83 % of the total distance travelled by 
passengers  (just  below  the  EU  average  of  85 %).  The 
share  of  freight  transported  by  road  is  relatively  low, 
however, at 55 % (EU average: 75 %), with rail (27 %) and 
pipelines (15 %) having a more significant role. Only 44 % 
of the rail network is electrified (EU average: 56 %). 

Buildings  accounted  for  25 %  of  all  effort  sharing 
emissions in 2022. Emissions of the sector are stagnating 
with  no  significant  development  since  2015.  Energy 
performance  of  buildings  is  below  the  EU  average  and 
renovation,  especially  of  the  non-residential  building 
sector, has been slow. 

(132)  Directive (EU) 2023/959 (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-

content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2023.130.01.0134.01.ENG) 

(133)  Directive - 2023/959 - EN - EUR-Lex and Directive - 2023/958 - EN 

- EUR-Lex 

(134)  Regulation (EU) 2018/842 (https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2018/842). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  40 

Slovakia adopted its national adaptation strategy in 2014 
and updated it in 2018. A crucial step was the approval 
of  the  national  adaptation  plan  in  2021.  This  plan 
outlined  the  priorities  for  adaptation  in  vulnerable 
sectors,  notably  water  management,  agriculture, 
forestry,  nature,  health,  and  urban  planning.  An 
evaluation  of  progress  made  in  implementing  the  plan 
was  submitted  to  the  government.  A  comprehensive 
assessment of Slovakia’s vulnerability to climate impacts 
is being planned as part of preparations for a climate law 
and  an  updated  adaptation strategy,  but  this  may  take 
time.  Although  guidelines  exist 
for  adaptation 
monitoring and evaluation, information on spending and 
results  in  this  area  is  incomplete.  The  main  barriers  to 
successful 
lack  of  financial 
resources, low awareness at regional and local level, and 
inadequate inter-ministerial cooperation, in particular on 
mainstreaming  adaptation  into  sectoral  policies  and 
plans. 

implementation  are  a 

European  Commission  identified  ten  priority  actions  in 
the 2022 edition of the review. 

There  is  no  progress  in  transport  sector  and  emissions 
are rising. 

There is some progress in energy efficiency of buildings, 
but the renovation rate of public buildings remains very 
low and overall energy performance of buildings is below 
the EU average. 

Financial  schemes  for  the  renovation  of  housing  have 
been merged into a single funded vehicle as part of the 
Recovery and resilience plan, which is helping to increase 
renovation rate and awareness. 

It is very difficult to assess the actual quality of the energy 
performance certificate system. Professional association 
is  in  charge  of  expert’s  accreditation.  Slovakia  has  a 
quality control scheme based on random checks. 

Slovakia  did  not  take  significant  steps  in  implementing 
reforms  to  accelerate  the  deployment  of  renewables. 
Overall  share  of  renewables  is  growing  very  slowly  in 
recent years. 

Slovakia’s  Recovery  and  resilience  plan  includes  some 
investments  measures 
sustainable 
production of biomass. 

supporting 

Slovakia has been proactive in addressing climate-change 
impacts and continued to make progress between 2021 
and 2023, but further efforts are required to enhance the 
climate resilience of infrastructure and relying more on 
adaptation  solutions  that  benefit  both  people  and 
important  reforms  and 
nature.  There  are  some 

Figure 33: Effort-sharing emissions by sector (%), 2022 

Land use, land use change and forestry 

The  Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) 
sector  plays  a  significant  role  in  achieving  the  EU’s 
climate  neutrality  goal.  In  the  EU,  this  sector  absorbs 
more GHGs than it emits, removing significant volumes 
of carbon from the atmosphere. Thus, it is the only sector 
with negative emissions. 

Removals  by  Slovakia’s  LULUCF  sector  have  increased 
considerably since 2018. 

Slovakia‘s target in 2030 is to enhance land removals by 
additional  –0.5  Mt  of  CO2  equivalent  compared  to  the 
yearly  average  of  the  period  2016–2018.  The  latest 
available projections show a  gap to target  of  1.9 Mt  of 
CO2  equivalent  in  2030.  Therefore,  Slovakia  needs  to 
apply additional measures to reach its 2030 target. 

Adaptation to climate change 

Halting  all  greenhouse  gas  emissions  would  still  not 
prevent  climate  impacts  that  are  already  occurring. 
Therefore,  adaptation  to  climate  change  is  also  a  key 
component of climate policy. 

Slovakia has no regions identified as a hotspots of climate 
risks most affected by climate change (135). 

A  high  climate  protection  gap  related  to  floods  call  for 
monitoring. Slovakia has continued to make progress on 
climate adaptation. Enhanced climate observation tools 
inform decision-making in specific sectors. 

(135)  European Climate Risk Assessment (EUCRA). 2024. Available at 

European Climate Risk Assessment (europa.eu) 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  41 

investments  included  in  the  Slovakia’s  Recovery  and 
resilience  plan,  but  progress  is  slow.  No  progress  has 
been achieved on the priority action concerning property 
realignment in key areas of national parks. 

Upskilling and reskilling rates in energy-intensive sectors 
are  increasing.  In  energy-intensive  industries,  workers’ 
participation  in  education  and  training  increased  from 
4.0 % in 2015 to 12.1 % in 2023, and it is now above the 
EU average (10.9 %). 

2025 priority action 

•  As  Slovakia  had  not  submitted  its  final  national 
energy and climate plan (NECP) plan by the end of 
March 2025, the European Commission encourages 
Slovakia to submit it. The plan will be assessed and 
the assessment will be available on the Commission 
website.(136) 

(136)   https://commission.europa.eu/energy-climate-change-
environment/implementation-eu-countries/energy-and-
climate-governance-and-reporting/national-energy-and-
climate-plans_en.  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  42 

Part II: Enabling framework – implementation tools

5. Financing

The  EU  budget  supports  climate  investment  in  Slovakia 
with  significant  amounts  in  2021–2027,  with  revenues 
from the ETS also feeding into the national budget. During 
2020–2022, Slovakia’s revenues from auctioning reached 
EUR 861 million in total, with  15 % spent  on climate and 
energy. 

In  addition,  the  annual  investment  needed  to  meet  its 
environmental  objectives 
in  the  areas  of  pollution 
prevention and control, the circular economy and waste, 
water protection and management, and biodiversity and 
ecosystems is estimated to be EUR 2.9 billion per year in 
Slovakia. 

These  four  environmental  areas  currently  receive  total 
funding of around EUR 1.8 billion per year; thus, there is a 
gap of EUR 1.1 billion per year. 

the 

annual 

gap, 
environmental 
Of 
EUR 0.4 billion  concerns  biodiversity  and  ecosystems, 
EUR 0.3 billion  pollution  prevention  and  control  and 
EUR 0.2 billion water and circular economy. 

investment 

Climate finance landmarks 

EU funding for climate action 

The EU budget supports climate action in the EU-27 with 
EUR 657.8 billion  in  the  2021–2027  budgetary  period 
across  the  various  programmes  and  funds,  representing 
an  overall  34.3 %  contribution  level.  Of  this,  cohesion 
policy provides EUR 120 billion (over half of it through the 
European  Regional  Development  Fund  (ERDF)),  the  RRF 
275.7 billion and the CAP 145.9 billion (137). 

In  Slovakia,  the  EU  cohesion  policy  (considering  the  EU 
contribution  amount)  provides  EUR 4 billion  for  climate 
action in 2021–2027 (with  more than half of this via the 

(137)  European  Commission,  Statement  of  Estimates  of  the  European 
Commission –  For  the  financial  year  2025,  Publications  Office  of 
the 
pp. 94–96, 
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/7a0420e1-
599e-4246-9131-ccb7d505d6d9_en?filename=DB2025-
Statement-of-Estimates_1.pdf. 

European  Union, 

Luxembourg, 

2024, 

(138)  See the Cohesion Open Data Platform (). 
(139)  European Commission datasets and the Recovery and Resilience 
(https://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/recovery-

Scoreboard 
and-resilience-scoreboard/index.html). 

ERDF),  with  a  further  7.5 million  from  the  European 
Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (138). 

The  RRF  contributes  to  climate  finance  in  Slovakia  with 
EUR 3.1 billion  up  to  2026,  representing  47.7 %  of  the 
RRP (139). 

(EIB)  provided 
Investment  Bank 
The  European 
EUR 109.9 billion  financing  across  the  EU-27  between 
2021  and  mid  2024  to  support  energy,  transport  and 
industry  projects  that  are  aligned  with  the  EU’s  climate 
objectives. Of this amount, EUR 41.2 million was assigned 
to Slovakia in the reference period (140). 

National financing, including EU emissions trading 
system revenues 

to  EUR 242 million 

Revenues  from  the  auctioning  of  emission  allowances 
under  the  EU  ETS,  which  feed  directly  into  national 
in  2020, 
budgets,  amounted 
EUR 276 million  in  2021  and  EUR 343 million  in  2022  in 
Slovakia,  totalling  EUR 861 million 
in  the  three-year 
period. In Slovakia, all auctioning revenues are earmarked 
and  go  to  the  Environmental  Fund,  which  also  receives 
money from other sources. The values reported as spent 
represent  the  funding  of  climate  change  and  energy 
projects known at the time of reporting. Part of unspent 
revenues are carried over to later years (141). 

From the remaining part of the EU ETS revenues that feed 
into  the  Innovation  Fund  and  the  Modernisation  Fund, 
further  support  is  available  to  climate  action  at  the  EU 
level. 

the  environment 

It should be noted that investment in climate action also 
supports 
the 
environmental  investments  described  in  the  following 
sections  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  additional  to 
climate investment (142). 

therefore, 

and, 

(140)  A 

list  of 

financed  projects 

is  provided  by 

the  EIB 

(https://www.eib.org/en/projects/loans/index.htm). 

(141)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Climate  Action, 
Progress Report 2023 – Climate action, Publications Office of the 
European 
2023, 
https://climate.ec.europa.eu/news-your-voice/news/climate-
action-progress-report-2023-2023-10-24_en. 

Luxembourg, 

Union, 

(142)  NB:  Indirect  investments  (from  climate  and  other  policies)  in 

support of the environment are accounted for via the tracking. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  43 

Environmental financing and investments 

This  section  describes  Slovakia’s 
investment  needs, 
current  financing  and  gaps  as  they  relate  to  the  four 
environmental  objectives  beyond  climate  objectives, 
namely  tackling  pollution,  the  circular  economy  and 
waste,  water  protection  and  management,  and 
biodiversity and ecosystems (143). 

Agricultural 

European 
Guarantee Fund 
European  Agricultural  Fund 
for Rural Development 

Maritime, 
European 
Fisheries  and  Aquaculture 
Fund 

Other MFF sources 

RRF (d) (2021–2026) 

354.3 

2.1 

181.1 (c) 

1 479 

The environment overall 

Investment needs 

The  overall  environmental 
investment  needs  to  be 
sufficient to enable Slovakia to meet its objectives in the 
areas  of  pollution  prevention  and  control,  the  circular 
economy and waste, water protection and management, 
and biodiversity and ecosystems. The required investment 
is estimated to be EUR 2.9 billion per year (in 2022 prices). 

Around EUR 781 million per year can be attributed to the 
need  to  support  biodiversity  and  ecosystems.  For 
pollution prevention and control, the annual investment 
needs  are  estimated  to  be  EUR 780 million,  for  water 
EUR 506 million 
economy 
EUR 809 million (in 2022 prices). 

circular 

and 

the 

for 

Current investments 

To implement the environmental investments needed, the 
available  financing  is  estimated  to  currently  reach  an 
annual  EUR 1.8 billion  in  Slovakia  from  EU  and  national 
sources combined (in 2022 prices). 

Total  environmental  funding  from  the  multiannual 
financial  framework  (MFF)  is  estimated  to  reach  around 
EUR 4.3 billion for Slovakia in total, during 2021–2027 (or 
EUR 617.0 million per year). 

Table 1: Key environmental allocations from EU funds to 
Slovakia (million EUR), 2021–2027 

Instrument 

Cohesion policy 
ERDF 
Cohesion Fund 
Just Transition Fund 

CAP 

Allocations 

3 198.3 (a) 
1 983.1 
1 104.4 
110.8  
937.1 (b) 
582.8 

(143)  Research,  development  and  innovation  is  accounted  for  under 
each environmental objective. The financing needs, baselines and 
gaps  estimates  are  based  on  the  Directorate-General  for 
Environment’s 
internal  analysis  (of  2024).  Throughout  this 
chapter,  specific  references are  provided to  the  most  important 
data sources used. 

(144)  https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/programmes/life_en. 
(145)  European  Commission,  Horizon  Europe,  https://research-and-
innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-
programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en. 

(a) 

(b) 

(c) 

(d) 

European  Commission,  2021-2027  cohesion  policy  (planned) 
allocations in EU amount excluding national co-financing, based on 
the  tracking  in  the  Common  Provisions  Regulation  (CPR,  2021) 
Annex I. Please note potential data changes that may have arisen 
between the EIR preparation cut-off date (31 October 2024) and 
its  publication  date.  Source  and 
information: 
https://cohesiondata.ec.europa.eu/2021-2027-
Categorisation/2021-2027-Planned-finances-detailed-
categorisation/hgyj-gyin/about_data. 

further 

Regulation (EU) 2021/2115 of the European Parliament and of the 
Council  of  2 December  2021  establishing  rules  on  support  for 
strategic  plans  to  be  drawn  up  by  Member  States  under  the 
common agricultural policy (CAP strategic plans) and financed by 
the  European  Agricultural  Guarantee  Fund  (EAGF)  and  by  the 
European  Agricultural  Fund  for  Rural  Development  (EAFRD)  and 
repealing Regulations (EU) No 1305/2013 and (EU) No 1307/2013 
(OJ 
https://eur-
p. 1), 
lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2021/2115. 

6.12.2021, 

Annex XI, 

L 435 

Note that 2021-2027 combines factual data for 2021 and 2022 and 
expenditure  under  the  relevant  specific  objectives  (SOs)  of  the 
CAP strategic plans from 2023, using the EU biodiversity tracking 
methodology  (https://commission.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
06/Biodiversity%20tracking%20methodology%20for%20each%20
programme%202023.pdf). Source: European Commission.  

Space  Fund,  Horizon  Europe,  financial 
environment and the Connecting Europe Facility. 

instrument  for  the 

Outside  the  MFF.  Note  that  the  RRF  applies  a  similar 
environmental tracking scheme (set in the RRF Regulation, Annex 
VI)  as  the  EU’s  cohesion  policy.  RRF  dataset  version  used:  July 
2024, prior to 2025 revisions. Data source: European Commission. 

Slovakia,  in  addition  to  receiving  EU  funds  earmarked 
specifically  for  it  in  2021–2027,  can  also  benefit  from 
funding programmes that can be accessed at the EU level 
and which are open to all Member States. These include 
instrument  for  the  environment  (LIFE) 
the  financial 
programme (144)  (EUR 5.4 billion),  Horizon  Europe (145) 
(EUR 95.5 billion),  the  Connecting  Europe  Facility (146) 
(EUR 37.7 billion) and the InvestEU programme (147). 

(146)  The  Connecting  Europe  Facility 

includes 
EUR 11.3 billion  transferred  from  the  Cohesion  Fund,  of  which 
30 % will be made available, on a competitive basis, to all Member 
States  eligible  for  the  Cohesion  Fund.  The  remaining  70 %  will 
respect the national envelopes until 31 December 2023. 

(transport)  also 

(147)  The  InvestEU  Fund  is  set  to  mobilise  over  EUR 372 billion  of 
investment through an EU budget guarantee of EUR 26.2 billion to 
back  the  investment  of  financial  partners such as  the  EIB  group 
and others. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
Slovakia  44 

Figure 34: Environmental financing, needs and gaps  per 
Member State (% of GDP) 

Slovakia’s  RRP  supports  climate  objectives  through 
funding  of  EUR 3.1 billion  (48 %  of  total),  which  also 
contribute to the environmental objectives. 

The EIB provided around EUR 16.5 million in environment-
related  financial  contributions  to  Slovakia  from  2021  to 
mid  2024,  all  of  which  was  in  the  area  of  sustainable 
energy, transport and industrial projects, which provides 
reducing  air  pollution, 
to 
significant 
environmental noise and other pollution. 

co-benefits 

The  EU’s  total  national  expenditure  on  environmental 
protection  (operating  plus  capital  expenditure)  was 
EUR 298 billion  in  2020  and  EUR 321 billion  in  2021, 
representing around 2.2 % of EU-27 GDP. In Slovakia, the 
total national environmental protection expenditure was 
EUR 1.8 billion 
in  2021, 
representing 2 % and 1.9 % of GDP, respectively. 

in  2020  and  EUR 1.9 billion 

Source: Analysis of Directorate-General for Environment. 

The following table provides the distributions of Slovakia’s 
environmental  investment  gap  (expressed  in  various 
forms) by environmental objective. 

Table 2: Summary of environmental investment gaps in 
Slovakia per year, 2021–2027 

Environmental 
objective 

Pollution prevention 
and control 

Circular economy and 
waste 

Water management 
and water industries 

Biodiversity and 
ecosystems 

Total 

Investment gap per year  

% of GDP 

% of 
total 

Million 
EUR 
(2022 
prices) 

289 

25.9 

0.26 

189 

16.9 

0.17 

223 

20.0 

0.20 

416 

37.3 

0.38 

 1 117 

100.0 

1.02 

Source: Directorate-General for Environment analysis. 

Of  the  total  environmental  expenditure,  the  national 
capital  expenditure 
(investment)  on  environmental 
protection  amounted  to  EUR 54.5 billion  in  2020  and 
EUR 59.9 billion in 2021 in the EU-27, representing around 
In  Slovakia,  the  national 
0.4 %  of  the  EU’s  GDP. 
environmental 
reached 
EUR 287 million in 2020, rising to EUR 263 million in 2021, 
representing around 0.3 % of GDP. 

investment 

protection 

protection 

investment 

Splitting by institutional sector, 48 % of Slovakia’s national 
environmental 
(capital 
expenditure) comes from the general government budget, 
with 45 % coming from specialist private-sector producers 
(of environmental protection services, such as waste and 
water  companies)  and  8 %  from  the  general  business 
sector,  whose  environmental  activities  are  usually 
ancillary  to  its  main  activities.  At  the  EU  level,  38 %  of 
environmental  protection 
from 
governments,  40 % 
specialist  private-sector 
producers and 22 % from the general business sector (148). 

investment  comes 

from 

Slovakia’s  total  financing  for  environmental  investment 
reaches  an  estimated  EUR 1.8 billion  per  year  (in  2022 
prices),  including  EU  funding  and  national  public  and 
national private expenditure. Of the total, the share of EU 
funds  (including  EIB  funds)  reaches  44 %,  with  around 
56 % national financing. The total public financing (EU plus 
national public) represents 71 % of the total. 

The gap 

To meet its four environmental objectives beyond climate 
change, the additional investment need over the current 
levels  (i.e.  the  gap)  reaches  an  estimated  EUR 1.1 billion 
per  year  in  Slovakia,  representing  around  1.02 %  of  the 
national GDP, being higher than the EU average (0.77 %). 

(148)  Eurostat, 

‘Environmental  protection  expenditure  accounts’, 

env_ac_epea. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  45 

needs  to  provide  an  additional  EUR 289 million  per  year 
(0.26 %  of  GDP),  mostly  related  to  protection  from 
clean  air  and  noise.  The  adequate 
radiation, 
implementation  of  the  NECP  with  the 
investments 
included  for  sustainable  energy  and  transport  would 
largely  deliver  this,  while 
in  many  Member  States 
additional measures and investments may be required to 
comply with the ammonia reduction requirements. 

According to the latest (2023) NAPCP review report (152), 
Slovakia complied with ammonia reduction requirements 
in 2020 and 2021, and it is not at risk of non-compliance 
with  ammonia  concerning  the  NECD’s  2030  emission 
reduction  commitments,  based  on  the  policies  and 
measures  in  its  NAPCP  that  take  into  account  climate, 
energy and CAP plans and financing baselines. 

Circular economy and waste 

Investment needs 

Slovakia’s  investment  needs  in  circular  economy  and 
waste reach EUR 809 million per year (including baseline 
investments).  Most  of  this,  around  EUR 678 million  per 
year, relates to circular economy measures in the mobility, 
food  and  built  environment  systems,  with  a  further 
EUR 132 million  necessary 
for  waste  management 
(municipal  and  packaging  waste),  covering  waste 
collection,  biowaste  treatment,  recycling  reprocessors, 
waste-sorting  facilities,  and  digitalisation  of  the  waste 
registry. The amount for waste excludes the investments 
needed for the uptake of circularity and waste prevention 
across the economy (153154. 

Current investments 

Circular economy investments across the economy reach 
around EUR 515 million per year in Slovakia in 2021-2027, 

(152)  European Commission, ‘National air pollution control programmes 
website, 
European 

Commission 

projections’, 

and 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/reducing-
emissions-air-pollutants/national-air-pollution-control-
programmes-and-projections_en. 

(153)  See Systemiq and Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Achieving ‘Growth 
2017, 

Within’, 
https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/achieving-growth-
within;  and  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for 
Environment,  Study  on  waste  management  investment  needs  in 
the  waste  sector  and  on  the  financing  of  municipal  waste 
management  in  Member  States,  Publications  Office  of  the 
2019, 
Union, 
European 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/4d5f8355-bcad-11e9-9d01-01aa75ed71a1. 

Luxembourg, 

Pollution prevention and control 

Investment needs 

to 

reduce 

In pollution prevention and control, Slovakia’s investment 
needs  are  estimated  to  reach  EUR 780 million  per  year 
(including  baseline  investments)  in  2021–2027.  Most  of 
this,  EUR 466 million,  relates  to  air  pollution  control,  to 
comply with the clean air requirements for the five main 
air  pollutants  under  the  NECD  by  2030.  The  estimated 
needs 
reach 
EUR 166 million per year, most of which is delivered by the 
(same) sustainable energy and transport investments that 
also  benefit  clean  air (149).  Protection  from  radiation 
requires  an  estimated  EUR 0.3 billion  per  year,  while 
industrial  site 
requires  an  estimated 
EUR 20 million  per  year.  Microplastics  pollution  and  the 
chemicals strategy require around EUR 10–20 million per 
year (each) (150). 

environmental 

remediation 

noise 

Current investments 

reach 

control 

investment 
and 

levels  supporting  pollution 
The  current 
prevention 
estimated 
an 
EUR 491 million per year in Slovakia in 2021–2027. Most 
of  the  financing  concerns  clean  air  (EUR 411 million  per 
year).  Protection  from  environmental  noise  receives 
around  EUR 141 million  per  year,  with  a 
further 
EUR 40 million spent on site remediation. 

In Slovakia, the EU MFF provides an estimated 44 % of the 
clean  air  financing  (mostly  via  cohesion  policy),  with  a 
further 37.3 % from the RRF, adding up to 81.3 % of the 
total. EIB financing contributes 0.5 % and national sources 
reach 18.3 % (151). 

The gap 

To meet its environmental objectives concerning pollution 
prevention and control (towards zero pollution), Slovakia 

(149)  2021 

Phenomena 

project 
(https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/f4cd7465-a95d-11eb-9585-01aa75ed71a1)  and  the 
Directive 
Commission’s 
implementation 
report 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-
03/COM_2023_139_1_EN_ACT_part1_v3.pdf). 

Environmental 

assessment 

Noise 

2023 

(150)  European  Commission,  Third  Clean  Air  Outlook,  Brussels,  2022, 

https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/air/clean-air-
outlook_en. See also the impact assessment for the revision of the 
AAQD available from the Commission web page on the proposed 
revision (). 

(151)  Through  the  tracking  of  EU  funds,  EIB  projects  and  national 
expenditure (EPEA accounts, Eurostat). Note that the bulk of clean 
air  financing  is  provided  as  a  contribution  from  climate  (energy 
and  transport)  measures,  as  per  the  tracking  schemes  in  the 
Common  Provisions  Regulation  Annex  I  and  the  RRF  Regulation 
tracking: 
Annex  VI.  Further 
https://commission.europa.eu/document/download/0a80484e-
2409-4749-94c6-
3b23bc6bae8f_en?filename=Clean%20air%20methodology_0.pdf 

information  on  clean  air 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
with  a  further  EUR 106 million  provided  for  waste 
management that does not constitute circular economy. 

Around 6.7 % of this combined financing for circularity and 
waste  comes  from  the  EU  MFF,  with  no  further 
contribution from the RRF. The share of national sources 
is  absolutely  overwhelming,  reaching  93 %  of  the  total 
financing (155). 

The gap 

To  meet  its  environmental  objectives  concerning  the 
circular  economy  and  waste,  Slovakia  needs  to  increase 
investments  by  an  estimated 
circular  economy 
EUR 163 million 
additional 
EUR 25 million  concerning  waste  management  actions, 
not  considered  as  circular  economy.  Combined,  this 
amounts to EUR 189 million per year, representing 0.17 % 
of Slovakia’s GDP. 

year,  with 

per 

an 

Of  the  circular  economy  gap,  EUR 43 million  relates  to 
recent  initiatives,  such  as  the  eco-design  for  sustainable 
products,  packaging  and  packaging  waste,  labelling  and 
digital  tools,  CRM  recycling,  and  measures  proposed 
under the amendment of the Waste Framework Directive, 
and  EUR 121 million  relates  to  further  investment  needs 
to unlock Slovakia’s circular economy potential. 

Slovakia  46 

Current investments 

Water investments in Slovakia are estimated to be around 
EUR 282 million per year (in 2022 prices) in 2021–2027. Of 
this,  EUR 127 million supports wastewater  management, 
EUR 114 million drinking water and around EUR 41 million 
the  other  aspects  of  the  Water  Framework  Directive 
(water management and protection). 

Of  the  total  financing,  38 %  is  provided  by  the  EU  MFF 
(mostly  through  cohesion  policy),  2.8%  from  the  RRF, 
while the bulk of financing comes from national  sources 
(59 %) (157). 

The gap 

To  meet  the  various  environmental  targets  under  the 
Water  Framework  Directive  and  the  Floods  Directive, 
Slovakia’s water investment gap reaches EUR 223 million 
per  year  (0.2 %  of  GDP),  with  EUR 105 million  linked  to 
wastewater  measures.  Drinking  water  measures  require 
an  additional  EUR 43 million  per  year  and  the  other 
aspects  of  the  Water  Framework  Directive  around 
EUR 75 million  per  year  over  the  existing 
levels  of 
financing. 

Biodiversity and ecosystems 

Water protection and management 

Investment needs 

Investment needs 

(in  2022  prices) 

The  annual  water  investment  needs  reach  an  estimated 
EUR 506 million 
in  Slovakia.  This 
comprises investment needs both for the water industry 
and for the protection and the management of water. Of 
the  total  annual  need,  EUR 231 million  relates  to  the 
management  of  waste  water  (also  including  additional 
costs  associated  with  the  revised  UWWTD).  A  further 
EUR 157 million  is  necessary  for  drinking  water-related 
investments  and  around  EUR 116 million 
the 
protection and management of water (156). 

for 

(155)  Waste management and circular economy expenditure tracking in 
the  EU  funds,  EIB  projects  and  in  the  national  expenditure 
(Eurostat).  Datasets:  EPEA  accounts  (env_epi)  and  circular 
economy private investments (cei_cie012). 

The investment needs for biodiversity and ecosystems are 
estimated to be EUR 781 million per year (in 2022 prices) 
in  Slovakia  in  2021–2027.  This  includes  the  following 
financing needs: 

• 

• 

• 

Slovakia’s  PAF (158),  concerning  the  Natura  2000 
areas:  EUR 250.4 million  per  year,  mostly  running 
costs; 
additional BDS costs (159): EUR 328.4 million per year 
on top of the PAF; 
sustainable 
EUR 202.1 million per year. 

management 

costs (160): 

soil 

(158)  European Commission, ‘Financing Natura 2000 – Prioritised action 
website, 

Commission 

frameworks’, 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/nature-and-
biodiversity/natura-2000/financing-natura-2000_en. 

European 

States’, 

(156)  See  European  Commission,  ‘Estimating  water  investment  needs 
and  financing  capacities  for  water-related  investment  in  EU 
Member 
2020, 
https://commission.europa.eu/news/estimating-investment-
needs-and-financing-capacities-water-related-investment-eu-
member-states-2020-05-28_en;  and  OECD,  Financing  Water 
Supply, Sanitation and Flood Protection: Challenges in EU Member 
States  and  policy  options,  OECD  Publishing,  Paris,  2020, 
https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/environment/financing-water-
supply-sanitation-and-flood-protection_6893cdac-en. 

2  May 

(157)  Water investment levels are estimated through tracking EU funds, 
EIB projects and national expenditure (EPEA accounts, Eurostat). 

(159)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Biodiversity  Financing  and  Tracking –  Final  report,  Publications 
Office 
2022, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/793eb6ec-dbd6-11ec-a534-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

European  Union, 

Luxembourg, 

the 

of 

(160)  Proposal  for  a  directive  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council  on  soil  monitoring  and  resilience  (Soil  Monitoring  Law) 
2023, 
COM(2023) 416 
https://environment.ec.europa.eu/publications/proposal-
directive-soil-monitoring-and-resilience_en. 

5 July 

final 

of 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
Current investments 

The current level of biodiversity financing is estimated to 
be EUR 364 million per year (in 2022 prices) in 2021–2027. 
80.2 % of this is considered direct financing to biodiversity 
and ecosystems, with a  100 % coefficient  in the  tracking 
schemes. 

19.4 % of the total financing is estimated to come from EU 
cohesion policy, 34.4 % from the CAP, 3.1 % from Horizon 
Europe,  around  1.2 %  from  LIFE  and  none  from  the 
European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund. The 
EU  MFF  altogether  accounts  for  58.5 %  of  the  financing 
and the RRF for 2.2 %, adding up to a total of 60.7 % from 
the  EU  budget.  The  rest,  39.3 %,  comes  from  national 
sources (161). 

Slovakia has programmed a relatively high share of its CAP 
budget (22 %) and cohesion policy funds (8 %, considering 
EU contribution amounts, disregarding ESF+) in measures 
supporting biodiversity for 2021–2027 – both well above 
the EU average. However, only 0.9 % of RRF financing is 
in  Slovakia  (see 
envisaged  to  support  biodiversity 
Figure 35). 

Figure 35: 2021–2027 contributions to biodiversity from 
the main EU instruments per Member State (% of policy 
total) 

NB: ESF+, European Social Fund Plus. 

The gap 

To  meet  the  environmental  objectives  concerning  the 
protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems 

(161)  Based  on  biodiversity  tracking  in  the  EU  budget  ()  and  national 
expenditure  into  biodiversity  from  the  Classification  of  the 
Functions of Government accounts. 

(162)  European  Commission,  Green  Budgeting  in  the  EU.  Key  Insights 
from the 2023 European Commission Survey of Green Budgeting 
Practices, 
https://economy-
finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/national-
fiscal-frameworks-eu-member-states/green-budgeting-
eu_en#:~:text=European%20Commission%20Green%20Budgetin
g%20Survey%C2%A0.  

2023, 

Slovakia  47 

and  other  relevant  cross-cutting  measures,  Slovakia’s 
investment gap is estimated to be around EUR 416 million 
per year, corresponding to 0.38 % of its GDP. 

Public financial management 

Green budgeting practices 

Green  budgeting  refers  to  the  use  of  budgetary  tools  to 
achieve climate and environmental goals. Some Member 
States  already  use  some  green  budgeting  practices (162). 
Green budgeting practices provide increased transparency 
on the environmental implications of budgetary policies. 

The  Commission  has  developed  a  non-mandatory  green 
budgeting  reference  framework  that  brings  together 
methodologies  for  assessing  the  impacts  of  budgets  on 
climate and environmental goals (163). 

To help Member States develop national green budgeting 
and  thereby  improve  policy  coherence  and  support  the 
green  transition,  the  Commission  facilitated  a  technical 
support instrument (TSI) project on green budgeting from 
2021 to 2024 (164). Slovakia participated and has also been 
selected  for  the  next  round  of  TSI  projects  on  green 
budgeting, starting in 2025, where the country will expand 
peer-to-peer learning through civil servants’ exchanges. 

Beyond green budgeting, to improve policy outcomes, the 
Commission  has  also  drawn  up  climate-proofing  and 
sustainability-proofing  guidance (165)  as  tools  to  assess 
project  eligibility  and  compliance  with  environmental 
legislation and criteria. 

 Green taxation and tax reform 

formed  the 

Total environmental taxes amounted to EUR 2.7 billion in 
Slovakia  in  2022,  representing  2.5 %  of  its  GDP  (EU 
largest 
average:  2.0 %).  Energy  taxes 
component of environmental taxes, accounting for 2.3 % 
of  GDP,  which  is  higher  than  the  EU  average  of  1.6 %. 
Transport  taxes,  at  0.19 %  of  GDP,  were  below  the  EU 
average (0.4 %), while taxes on pollution and resources, at 
0.02 %,  were  below  the  EU  average  (0.08 %).  In  2022, 
environmental  taxes  in  Slovakia  accounted  for  7.1 %  of 

(163)  European  Commission, 

‘European  Union  green  budgeting 
https://economy-

2022, 

framework’, 

reference 
finance.ec.europa.eu/economic-and-fiscal-governance/green-
budgeting-eu_en. 

(164)  https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/what-we-do/revenue-

administration-and-public-financial-management/supporting-
implementation-green-budgeting-practices-eu_en. 

(165)  Commission notice – Technical guidance on the climate proofing 
of infrastructure in the period 2021–2027 (OJ C 373, 16.09.2021, 
p. 1), https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/23a24b21-16d0-11ec-b4fe-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
total revenues from taxes and social security contributions 
(above the EU average of 5.0 %) (166). 

Figure 36: Environmental taxes per Member State, 2022 

Slovakia  48 

served objectives in energy, buildings or transport, while 
5 % supported objectives in water, 5.1 % related to land 
use  (with  links  to  nature  and  ecosystems)  and  3.8 % 
applied  to  waste  management.  By  2023,  the  combined 
share of energy, buildings and transport had decreased to 
73 %, the shares of waste management and land use had 
increased (to 5.9 % and 8.4 %, respectively) and the share 
of water had remained around 5 %. 

In  2021–2023,  31.7 %  of  the  European  green  bonds 
(excluding  supranational 
issued  by 
financial  corporates,  29.1 %  by  sovereign  governments 
and  23.1 %  by  non-financial  corporates.  8.3 %  of  the 
issuances was linked to government-backed entities, 6.4 % 
to development banks and 1.4 % to local governments. 

issuances)  was 

Figure 37: Value of green bonds issued per Member 
State (billion EUR), 2021, 2022 and 2023 

The EU Green Deal emphasises the role of well-designed 
tax  reforms  (e.g.  shifts  from  taxing  labour  to  taxing 
pollution) to boost economic growth and resilience, and to 
foster  a  fairer  society  and  a  just  transition  through  the 
right price signals. The Green Deal promotes the ‘polluter-
pays  principle’,  which  makes  polluters  bear  the  costs  to 
prevent, control and remedy pollution. 

According to a 2024 study (167), Slovakia applies emission 
charges  (various  categories  of  charges  for  emissions  to 
water and air, plus a solid waste disposal to landfill fee), 
product  charges  (collection  and  disposal  of  batteries, 
collection and disposal of electric and electronic products, 
levies on aluminium sheets and strips, levies on tyres) and 
user  charges  (volumetric  charges  for  water  abstraction, 
charges for mineral extraction). 

Green bonds and sustainable bonds 

In 2023, the total value of green bonds issued by Member 
States  was  USD 245 billion  (EUR 227 billion),  up  from 
USD 234 billion (EUR 198 billion) in 2021. 

During 2021–2023 combined, Slovakia issued green bonds 
(EUR 0.9 billion).  Of  this,  the 
worth  USD 1.1 billion 
issuance 
to  USD 318 million 
(EUR 0.3 billion) (168). 

in  2023  amounted 

During  2014–2023,  83 %  of  the  green  bonds  issued  by 
European  countries  (excluding  supranational  entities) 

Data source: Climatebonds.net, with some additional data from national 
sources (e.g. Croatia, Slovenia). 

Environmentally harmful subsidies 

Addressing  and  phasing  out  environmentally  harmful 
subsidies,  in  particular  fossil  fuel  subsidies  (FFS),  is  a 
further  step  towards  achieving  the  eighth  environment 
the  enabling 
action  programme  objectives  and 

(166)  Eurostat, ‘Environmental taxes accounts’, env_eta. 
(167)  European Commission, Candidates for Taxing Environmental Bads 
at  National  Level,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union, 
Luxembourg, 2024, Annexes 1 and 2, . 

(168)  Climate  bonds initiative  ().  NB.  Additionally  (and not  included in 
this),  national  sources  indicated  EUR  544.8  million  issuance  for 
Croatia, in 2022-2023, and a slightly  higher amount for Slovenia 
(+0.27 billion) during 2021-2023 in total. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
conditions (169). FFS are costly for public budgets and make 
it difficult to achieve European Green Deal objectives. 

NB: RES, renewable energy source. 

Source: analysis of Directorate-General Energy 

Slovakia  49 

The overall downward trend of FFS mentioned in past EIRs 
was disrupted from 2022 due to the European response to 
the 2021 energy crisis and subsequent increase in energy 
prices. 

As a direct consequence, annual FFS in the EU increased to 
EUR 109 billion in 2023 from EUR 57 billion in 2020. From 
2021 to 2023, there was a marked increase in annual FFS 
of 72 % in the EU (170). 

For the majority of the Member States (16) the year 2022 
saw  a  peak  in  the  amount  of  overall  FFS.  A  decline  was 
then observed in 2023 (171). In particular, FFS for coal and 
lignite, natural gas and oil increased in 2022 and a strong 
increase was observed for natural gas subsidies.  

In  Slovakia,  the  energy  subsidies  were  stable  between 
2015  and  2020,  dropping  observably  in  2021  and  2022, 
followed by a sharp increase in 2023. During 2015–2022, 
FFS reached its maximum in 2020 (EUR 0.5 billion), while 
the overall increasing trend in 2023 saw FFS scaled up as 
well, to EUR 1.7 billion. 

As a share of GDP, FFS in 2022 ranged from 1.8 % in Croatia 
to  less  than  0.1 %  in  Denmark  and  Sweden.  Slovakia’s 
value reached 0.2 %, below the EU average (0.8 %) (172). 

Figure 38: Energy subsidies by energy carrier in Slovakia 
(billion EUR), 2015–2023 

For  Slovakia,  the  EIR  2022  priority  actions  included  the 
following. 

•  Devise  an  environmental 

financing  strategy  to 
maximise  opportunities  for  closing  environmental 
implementation  gaps,  bringing  together  all  relevant 
administrative levels. 
increased 

level  of  financing  for  the 
environment, 
sources 
(currently  lower  than  a  third),  to  cover  investment 
needs  across  the  environmental  objectives  and  to 
close investment gaps. 

from  private 

including 

•  Ensure  an 

•  Continue the phasing out of environmentally harmful 

subsidies. 

•  Enhance  the  use  of  economic  instruments  to  make 

polluters pay. 

Overall,  Slovakia  has  a  similar  level  of  environmental 
investment  gaps  to  that  at  the  time  of  the  2022  EIR  (at 
around 1 % of GDP), which is above the EU average. 

2025 priority action 

•  Use more national funding (for instance by increasing 
taxes  in  favour  of  the  environment  and  reducing 
environmentally  harmful  subsidies),  EU  funding  and 
private funding to help close the investment gap. 

(169)  Article 3(h) and 3(v) of the eighth environment action programme. 
(170)  European  Commission,  2024  Report  on  Energy  Subsidies  in  the 

European Union, COM(2025). 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2025)17&lang=en 

(171)  16 Member States: BE, EE, IE, EL, ES, FR, HR, IT, CY, LT, HU, NL, AT, 

PT, RO and SE. 

(172)  European  Commission,  2024  Report  on  Energy  Subsidies  in  the 

European Union, COM(2025). 
https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/documents-
register/detail?ref=COM(2025)17&lang=en  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  50 

6. Environmental governance 

Information, public participation and access to 
justice 

Table 3: Slovakia dashboard on the implementation of 
the Inspire Directive, 2016–2023 

2016 

2023 

Legend 

to 

(iii) 

and 

access 

justice 

Citizens  can  more  effectively  protect  the  environment  if 
they rely on the three ‘pillars’ of the Aarhus Convention: 
(i)  access  to  information,  (ii)  public  participation  in 
decision-making 
in 
environmental  matters.  It  is  of  crucial  importance  to 
public  authorities,  the  public  and  businesses  that 
environmental 
is  shared  efficiently  and 
effectively (173).  Public  participation  allows  authorities  to 
make  decisions  that  take  public  concerns  into  account. 
Access to justice is a set of guarantees that allows citizens 
and  NGOs  to  use  national  courts  to  protect  the 
environment, safeguard the rights of citizens and ensure 
accountability  of  authorities (174).  It  includes  the  right  to 
bring legal challenges (‘legal standing’) (175). 

information 

Environmental information 

This  section  focuses  on  the  implementation  of  the 
Infrastructure  for  Spatial  Information  in  the  European 
Community (Inspire) Directive. The Inspire Directive aims 
to  set  up  a  European  spatial-data  infrastructure  for 
sharing environmental spatial information between public 
authorities across Europe. It is expected that this will help 
policymaking  across  boundaries  and  facilitate  public 
access  to  this  information.  Geographical  information  is 
needed  for  good  governance  at  all  levels  and  should  be 
readily and transparently available. 

Slovakia’s  performance 
Inspire 
Directive is substantial and has been reviewed based on 
its 2023 country fiche (176) (see Table 3).  

implementing  the 

in 

(173)  The  Aarhus 

Convention 

(https://unece.org/environment-
policy/public-participation/aarhus-convention/text),  the  Access 
to  Environmental  Information  Directive  (Directive  2003/4/EC) 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
Inspire 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32003L0004) 
Directive  (Directive  2007/2/EC)  (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32007L0002) together create a legal 
foundation for the sharing of environmental information between 
public authorities and with the public. 

and 

the 

(174)  These  guarantees  are  explained  in  the  European  Commission’s 
2017  notice  on  access  to  justice  in  environmental  matters 
(https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:52017XC0818(02))  and  a  related 

Effective  coordination  and  data 
sharing 

Ensure  effective 
coordination  

sharing 

Data 
without 
obstacle  

■ 

■ 

Inspire performance indicators 

■ 
Implementation 
of  this  provision  is 
well  advanced  or 
(nearly)  completed. 
Outstanding 
issues 
are  minor  and  can 
be addressed easily. 
Percentage >89 % 

■ 
Implementation 
of this provision has 
started  and  made 
some or substantial 
progress  but  is  still 
not  close  to  being 
completed. 
Percentage = 31–
89 % 

■ 
Implementation 
of  this  provision  is 
falling  significantly 
Serious 
behind. 
efforts 
are 
necessary  to  close 
the implementation 
gap. 
Percentage < 31 % 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

■ 

(i) Conformity of 
metadata  

(ii)  Conformity 
spatial 
of 
datasets 

(iii)  Accessibility 
of 
spatial 
datasets 
through 
view 
and  download 
services 

(iv)  Conformity 
of 
network 
services 

Source:  European  Commission,  ‘Slovakia’,  Inspire   nowledge  Base, 
https://knowledge-base.inspire.ec.europa.eu/slovakia_en. 

In 2022, Slovakia received a priority action on the need to 
make  spatial  data  more  widely  accessible  and  prioritise 
the environmental datasets (177). Slovakia has made good 
progress on accessibility of spatial data, but more efforts 
are needed. 

2018 citizen’s guide (https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/2b362f0a-bfe4-11e8-99ee-01aa75ed71a1/language-
en/format-PDF). 

(175)  This  EIR  focuses  on  the  means  used  by  Member  States  to 
guarantee  rights  of  access  to  justice  and  legal  standing  and  to 
overcome other major barriers to bringing cases on environmental 
protection. 

(176)  European  Commission, 

‘Slovakia’, 

Inspire  Knowledge  Base, 

https://knowledge-base.inspire.ec.europa.eu/slovakia_en. 
(177)  See the European Commission’s list of high-value spatial datasets 

(https://github.com/INSPIRE-MIF/need-driven-data-
prioritisation/blob/main/documents/eReporting_PriorityDataList
_V2.1_final_20201008.xlsx). 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  51 

Public participation 

Public involvement  at both the planning and the project 
phase  maximises  transparency  and  social  acceptance  of 
programmes  and  projects.  Consultation  with  the  public 
(including  NGOs)  and  environmental,  local  and  regional 
authorities  is  a  key  feature  of  an  effective  impact 
assessment procedure. Such consultation also provides an 
opportunity for public authorities and project promoters 
to  engage  with  the  public  actively  and  meaningfully  by 
making information on the likely significant effects widely 
available. If carried out with due diligence and taking into 
consideration  useful  public  input,  this  process  leads  to 
better-informed decision-making and can promote public 
acceptance.  Making 
increases 
stakeholder  involvement,  thus  lessening  resistance  and 
preventing (or minimising) litigation. On the other hand, it 
is paramount that the procedure is effective. 

information  available 

This  section  examines  how  public 
involvement  and 
transparency are ensured under two instruments, namely 
the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive (178) 
and  the  Strategic  Environmental  Assessment  (SEA) 
directive (179). 

EU law provides for a flexible framework concerning EIAs. 
The aim of this framework is to ensure the application of 
the  necessary  environmental  safeguards,  while  enabling 
speedy  approval  of  projects.  The  Commission  has 
contributed to simplifying and accelerating permitting for 
renewable energy projects and continues to support the 
Member  States  in  this  regard  (180).  Slovakia  has  taken 
some 
steps  aimed  at  accelerating  permit-issuing 
procedures  in  line  with  the  broad  flexibilities  offered  by 
the EU legal framework, namely in the form of accelerated 
deadlines  for 
issuing  permits  for  renewable  energy 
projects. The option of a one-stop-shop for issuing permits 
has not been considered in Slovakia yet.  

The average speed in the EU for issuing permits involving 
is  20.6 months,  with  a  minimum 
an  EIA  procedure 

(screening, 

scoping,  EIA 

duration  of  11.4 months  and  a  maximum  duration  of 
75.7 months (181).  The  duration  of  each  step  in  an  EIA 
process 
report,  public 
consultation, reasoned conclusion, development consent) 
varies considerably between Member States and projects. 
The available data for Slovakia does not cover all EIA steps 
and  thus  it  is  impossible  to  draw  exact  conclusions; 
however, it can be concluded that  the average  speed of 
the EIA process in Slovakia is slower than the EU average. 
As  regards  the  screening  step,  Slovakia  is  among  six 
Member States that reported an average exceeding three 
months,  which  is  above  the  legal  deadline  of  90 days 
provided  in  the  EIA  Directive.  As  regards  the  reasoned 
conclusion  step,  Slovakia  reported  the  longest  average 
duration  of  all  Member  States  (11.8 months,  compared 
with the EU average of 3.5 months). 

Effective use of EU procedures can positively influence the 
timely 
the 
decarbonisation of the economy on the way to net zero by 
2050. 

activities  underpinning 

approval  of 

A new report  is not  yet  available on the application and 
effectiveness of the SEA Directive in the EU. Nevertheless, 
a support study has been published with information by 
Member State (182). 

Slovakia’s  Ministry  of  Environment  provides  a  dedicated 
web  page  on  the  EIA  and  SEA  processes (183).  There  is 
comprehensive information on the applicable legislation, 
step-by-step  details  of  both  procedures,  guidance 
documents and contact point details, and an information 
system providing full documentation on current and past 
EIA  and  SEA  procedures (184).  Information  on  how  to 
submit  comments  by  the  public,  to  whom  and  within 
which time frame, is available in the document with which 
the  EIA/SEA  project  is  notified.  However,  individuals 
would generally need to have detailed information on the 
permitting process of concern  already in order to locate 
the documentation. 

(178)  Directive  2011/92/EU  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 13 December 2011 on the assessment of the effects of 
certain public and private projects on the environment (OJ L 26, 
p. 1), 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
28.1.2012, 
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32011L0092. 

(179)  Directive  2001/42/EC  of  the  European  Parliament  and  of  the 
Council of 27 June 2001 on the assessment of the effects of certain 
plans and programmes on the environment (OJ L 197, 21.7.2001, 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
p. 30), 
content/EN/ALL/?uri=CELEX:32001L0042. 

(180)  Commission Staff Working Document (SWD/2022/0149 final), 18 
May 
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022SC0149&qid=1653034229
953. 

2022, 

(181)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Collection of information and data on the implementation of the 

Impact  Assessment 

revised  Environmental 
(EIA)  Directive 
(2011/92/EU) as amended by 2014/52/EU), Publications Office of 
the  European  Union,  Luxembourg,  2024,  Tables 5  and  6, 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/8349a857-2936-11ef-9290-01aa75ed71a1/. 
(182)  European  Commission:  Directorate-General  for  Environment, 
Lundberg, P., McNeill, A., McGuinn, J., Cantarelli, A. et al., Study 
supporting  the  preparation  of  the  report  on  the  application  and 
effectiveness  of  the  SEA  Directive  (Directive  2001/42/EC)  –  Final 
study,  Publications  Office  of  the  European  Union,  2025, 
https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2779/1615072 

(183)  https://www.enviroportal.sk/eia-sea. 

https://www.enviroportal.sk/environmentalne-
temy/starostlivost-o-zp/eia-sea-posudzovanie-vplyvov-na-zp. 

(184)  https://www.enviroportal.sk/sk/eia. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
is  no 

summary 

information  available  on 
There 
participation  in  EIA  and  SEA  processes,  although  such 
information is available for individual cases. 

An  infringement  process  has  been  ongoing  since  2019. 
Despite making several commitments to comply, Slovakia 
has failed to correct all the deficiencies identified by the 
Commission (185). 

increasing  or  decreasing;  and 

In  the  2022  EIR,  Slovakia  received  two  priority  actions 
related  to  EIA  and  SEA:  (i)  to  collate  and  publish 
information  on  public  participation 
in  EIA  and  SEA 
processes in order to monitor whether public engagement 
(ii)  to  complete 
is 
transposition  of  the  revised  EIA  Directive.  There  is  no 
information on clear progress on the first priority action. 
No progress has been made on the second priority action, 
given that the infringement proceeding launched in 2019 
is still ongoing. 

Access to justice 

Access to justice, guaranteed by Article 19(1) of the Treaty 
on the European Union and Article 47 of the EU Charter of 
Fundamental Rights, is a fundamental right and part of the 
democratic process. It is vital to ensure the full application 
of EU law in all Member States and the legal protection of 
the  rights  of  individuals,  including  in  environmental 
matters.  Access  to  justice  is  essential  to  enable  judicial 
review of the decisions of public authorities and to allow 
the  correction  of  any  wrongdoing  committed  by  these 
authorities. 

This  section  provides  a  snapshot  of  the  state  of  play  of 
access to courts by the public, particularly when it comes 
to challenging plans, or the non-adoption of plans, under 
EU law, in the areas of water, waste, air quality, nature and 
noise,  irrespective  of  the  form  of  the  legal  act  (i.e. 
regulatory act or administrative decision). 

Both  NGOs  and  concerned  individuals  in  general  have 
standing  in  administrative  judicial  proceedings  when 
challenging administrative decisions. However,  there are 
in  challenging  both  plans  and 
some  difficulties 
programmes  and –  in  particular –  their  non-adoption. 
When plans or programmes are adopted as a regulatory 
act  by  a  government  resolution,  no  access  to  justice  is 
granted to the public, as government resolutions are not 
subject to judicial review. There is no provision in Slovak 
legislation that explicitly gives individuals or NGOs access 
to justice with regard to ‘concepts, plans or programmes’. 
They  can  be  challenged  only  when  adopted  by  a 

Slovakia  52 

‘general  binding  regulation  of  a 
municipality  as  a 
municipality’.  Inactivity  of  public  administration  bodies 
(e.g. omissions) cannot be challenged by the public at all. 

The  Commission  launched  an  infringement  case  against 
Slovakia  in  February  2024,  as  it  does  not  ensure  with 
clarity  and  precision  that  members  of  the  public  can 
challenge  before  a  court  all  decisions  or  omissions  of 
national  authorities  falling  within  the  scope  of  EU 
environmental  law (186).  Furthermore,  it  appears  that 
public  participation  has  also  been  limited  for  sectoral 
assessment,  such  as  assessment  of  exceptions  at  the 
project level under the Water Framework Directive, as a 
result of the amendment to the Water Act in 2021. 

relate 

The  Commission  has  identified  several  non-conformity 
issues  in  Slovakia’s  transposition  of  the  amended  EIA 
to 
Directive.  The  shortcomings 
information, lack of clarity on the nature and timeliness of 
decisions  taken,  failure  to  incorporate  environmental 
considerations into the decisions made, timeliness of the 
decisions,  and  possible  conflicts  of  interest.  Slovakia 
committed  to  addressing  these  gaps  in  the  planned 
amendment to the Slovak EIA Act. 

to  access 

However,  the  recent  proposals  to  amend  the  relevant 
legislation  (i.e.  the  EIA  Act  and  Building  Act)  show  a 
deterioration of the EU legal standards for effective public 
participation and access to justice. 

Any streamlining of the permit-issuing system (EIA Act or 
Building  Act)  in  Slovakia  should  not  lower  the  level  of 
environmental  protection  but  rather  use  the  flexibilities 
offered by EU environmental legislation. The Commission 
will carefully assess the conformity of adopted legislation 
with  EU  law  and  take  further  action  if  EU  standards  are 
breached.  

In  2022,  there  were  two  priority  actions  addressed  to 
Slovakia on access to justice, namely to  (i) better inform 
the public about  their rights on access to justice  and (ii) 
improve access to courts by the public concerned when it 
comes  to  challenging  administrative  or  regulatory 
decisions. There has been no progress. 

2025 priority actions 

•  Make  spatial  data  more  widely  accessible  and 
prioritise  environmental  datasets  in  implementing 
the  Inspire  Directive,  especially  those  identified  as 
high-value 
implementing 
environmental legislation. 

spatial  datasets 

for 

(185)

(186)

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/inf

_19_5950. 

_24_301. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
• 

• 

• 

Ensure  that  relevant  information  on  EIA  and  SEA 
procedures 
(including  on  public  participation 
opportunities and on publication of final decisions) is 
electronically accessible in a timely manner, through 
at least a central portal or easily accessible points of 
access, at the appropriate administrative level. 
Improve  access  to  courts  in  national  environmental 
cases by the public concerned and eliminate practical 
barriers, such as length of proceedings and excessive 
costs in some Member States. 
Ensure  correct  transposition  of  the  revised  EIA 
Directive. 

Compliance assurance 

Environmental  compliance  assurance  covers  all  work 
undertaken by public authorities to ensure that industries, 
farmers and others fulfil their obligations to protect water, 
air and nature, to manage waste (187) and to remedy any 
environmental  damage.  It  includes  measures  such  as  (i) 
compliance  promotion,  (ii)  compliance  monitoring  (i.e. 
inspections  and  other  checks),  (iii)  enforcement,  that  is, 
steps taken to stop breaches and impose sanctions, and 
(iv) ensuring damage prevention and remediation in line 
with the polluter-pays principle. 

Compliance promotion, monitoring and enforcement 

Non-compliance  with  environmental  obligations  may 
occur for different reasons, including poor understanding 
or  lack  of  acceptance  of  the  rules,  opportunism  or  even 
criminality.  Compliance  promotion  activities  help  duty-
holders to comply by providing information, guidance and 
other  support.  This  is  particularly  important  in  areas 
where new and complex legislation is put in place. 

When  inspections  and  other  control  activities  identify 
problems,  a  range  of  responses  may  be  appropriate, 
including 
the  use  of  administrative  and  criminal 
enforcement tools. 

The latest annual report on the state of the environment 
from  2024 (188)  provides  some  summary  data  on 
environmental  crimes,  with  the  estimated  number  of 
environmental cases in 2023 amounting to 980, of which 
only  238  had  an  identified  offender,  and  the  total 
environmental damage amounting to EUR 33 321 000. 

(187)  The concept is explained in detail in the European Commission’s 
2018  communication  on  EU  actions  to  improve  environmental 
compliance  and  governance  (https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52018DC0010)  and  the  related 
(https://eur-
Commission 
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52018SC0010). 

document 

working 

staff 

Slovakia  53 

As of 1 February 2022, as part of the first payment request 
for  the  Slovak  RRP,  a  new  police  unit  called  Enviro  was 
established, with 201 police officers, for the detection and 
investigation of environmental crime. This is a specialised 
and  independent  body  focused  on  ensuring  effective 
results  against  environmental  crime.  It  is  established  at 
national  as  well  as  regional  level.  However,  it  has  been 
discussed  that  a  possible  reorganisation  of  Enviro  could 
take place in the near future, hindering the specialisation 
and  effectiveness  of  investigations  on  environmental 
crime. This decision appears not to have been confirmed 
yet. 

In  November  2023,  a  regional  conference  dedicated  to 
strengthening  the  fight  against  crime  affecting  the 
environment  was  held,  which  representatives  from 
Albania,  Bosnia  and  Herzegovina,  Bulgaria,  Croatia, 
France, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, 
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Poland and Romania attended 
(189). 

to 

to 

take 

steps 

The 2022 EIR recommended that Slovakia (i) improves the 
availability of practical information for farmers and other 
land  managers  on 
improve 
implementation of the Nature and Nitrates Directives; (ii) 
collects  and  makes  available  up-to-date  statistics  on 
environmental  crimes,  including  on  action  taken  and 
penalties  imposed;  and  (iii)  continues  to  develop  a 
strategic  approach  to  combat  environmental  crime. 
Concerning  compliance  promotion,  monitoring  and 
criminal  and  administrative  enforcement,  the  2022 
priority  actions  are  not  assessed  here  due  to  a  lack  of 
systematic  information.  Similarly,  the  Commission  is  not 
aware  if  information  is  easily  accessible  online  at  the 
national level for farmers regarding compliance with the 
Nitrates  and  Nature  Directives,  and  hence  the  2022 
priority action is not assessed. 

The new EU Environmental Crime Directive 

The EU has recently strengthened its legal framework on 
tackling  the  most  serious  breaches  of  environmental 
obligations,  notably  by  the  adoption  of  the  new 
Environmental  Crime  Directive  (ECD)  (190)  and  new 
sectoral 
stronger  provisions  on 
compliance  monitoring,  enforcement  and  penalties. 
the 
the 
Issues 
implementation  of  the  relevant  new  instruments  are 

transposition  and 

legislation  with 

important 

for 

(188)  https://www.enviroportal.sk/spravy/detail/11203. 
(189)  https://www.selec.org/strengthening-the-fight-against-crimes-

that-affect-the-environment-in-southeast-europe/ 

(190)  Directive  2024/1203/EU  on  the  protection  of  the  environment 
https://eur-

criminal 

law 

through 
lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2024/1203/oj/eng. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
highlighted below; a detailed assessment of these topics 
will be included in the next EIR once more implementation 
measures  are  put 
in  place  and  more  systematic 
information is available. 

The  new  ECD  replaced  the  2008  ECD  and  introduced 
several  new  offence  categories,  such  as  unlawful  ship 
recycling,  unlawful  water  abstraction,  and  serious 
legislation  on  chemicals,  mercury, 
breaches  of  EU 
fluorinated GHG and IAS of EU concern. It also covered the 
establishment  of  qualified  offences,  subject  to  more 
severe penalties where one of the offences defined in the 
directive  leads  to  serious  widespread  and  substantial 
damage  or  destruction  of  the  environment.  Concrete 
provisions on the types and levels of penalties for natural 
and  legal  persons  who  commit  an  offence  were  also 
introduced.  Other  provisions  will  help  considerably  to 
improve  the  effectiveness  in  combating  environmental 
crime  of  all  actors  along  the  enforcement  chain.  These 
include  obligations  to  ensure  adequate  resources  and 
investigative  tools,  specialised  regular  training  and  the 
establishment  of  cooperation  mechanisms  within  and 
between Member States as well as national strategies on 
combating environmental crime. 

including  by 

Member  States  are  required  to  transpose  the  new  ECD 
into national law by 21 May 2026 and to take additional 
measures  to  more  effectively  combat  environmental 
crime, 
in  particular  through  training,  coordination, 
cooperation  and  strategic  approaches.  The  Commission 
will  provide  support, 
facilitating  the 
identification  and  sharing  of  good  practices.  Member 
States are expected to ensure the necessary resources and 
invited  to 
specialised  skills  required  and  they  are 
encourage their authorities to support and cooperate with 
the  recognised  EU-level  networks  of  environmental 
enforcement practitioners, such as the EU Network for the 
Implementation  and  Enforcement  of  Environmental 
Law (191),  EnviCrimeNet (192),  the  European  Network  of 
Prosecutors for the Environment (193) or the  EU Forum of 
Judges  for  the  Environment (194).  The  European  Union 
Agency for Law Enforcement  Cooperation and European 
Justice  Cooperation 
Union  Agency 

for  Criminal 

(191)  https://www.impel.eu/en. 
(192) 

LIFE+SATEC 
(https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/life/publicWebsite/project/LIFE2
0-PRE-ES-000001/fight-against-environmental-crime-at-a-
strategic-level-through-the-strengthening-of-envicrimenet-
network-of-experts-in-environmental-criminal-investigations). 

project 

(193)  https://www.environmentalprosecutors.eu. 
(194)  https://www.eufje.org/index.php?lang=en. 

Slovakia  54 

mechanisms for cooperation on cross-border cases should 
be used more systematically for environmental offences.  

Environmental Liability Directive 

The  Environmental  Liability  Directive  (ELD)  (195)  aims  to 
ensure that environmental damage is remediated in kind 
at the expense of those who have caused it, in line with 
the polluter-pays principle. It helps to halt the net loss in 
biodiversity,  as  well  as  reducing  the  number  of 
contaminated  sites  and  protecting  the  environmental 
quality of groundwater and surface waters. The ELD is a 
for  better 
tool  and  a  key  enabler 
cross-cutting 
implementation of EU environmental law. 

The  ELD  addresses  cases  of  significant  environmental 
damage  to  protected  species  and  natural  habitats,  and, 
when caused by operators carrying out certain potentially 
hazardous  activities,  also  damages  to  water  and  to  soil. 
The  Commission  has  the  legal  obligation  to  periodically 
evaluate  the  ELD.  The  ELD  has  undergone  the  second 
evaluation (196), which will be finalised in 2025, and which 
was  supported  by  an  external  study  (197),  containing 
evidence,  views,  reports  and  other  relevant  information 
gathered  from  different  stakeholder  groups,  including 
Member States. 

indicators 

One  of  the  most  relevant 
in  assessing 
implementation  and  enforcement  of  the  ELD  is  the 
number  of  environmental  damage  cases  handled  under 
the  ELD,  especially  when  this  number  is  compared  with 
the  previous  reporting  period.  Fewer  ELD  cases  were 
reported in the second reporting period (2013–2022) than 
in  the  first  one  (2007–2013).  However,  the  downward 
tendency  in  the  number  of  ELD  occurrences  and  their 
overall low number do not necessarily mean that the ELD 
has  achieved  its  objectives,  as  it  needs  to  be  compared 
with the overall number of environmental damage cases, 
some of  which  may have been handled under the other 
liability instruments. 

The ELD has not always been effective in ensuring that the 
polluter  pays,  because  the  liable  operators  often  lack 
financial  capacity  to  carry  out  remediation  measures. 
While the ELD does not provide for a mandatory financial 

(195)  Directive 2004/35/EC on environmental liability with regard to the 
prevention and remedying of environmental damage https://eur-
lex.europa.eu/legal-
content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02004L0035-20190626. 

(196)  Commission  staff  working  document  -  Evaluation  of  the 

Environmental Liability Directive, forthcoming 2025.  

(197)    European Commission, Study in support of the evaluation of the 
implementation 

its 

Environmental  Liability  Directive  and 
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-
/publication/006d90e5-980a-11ef-a130-
01aa75ed71a1/language-en. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
the  development  of 

security  system,  it  explicitly  calls  for  Member  States  to 
encourage 
financial  security 
instruments  and  markets,  with  the  aim  of  enabling 
operators  to  use  financial  guarantees  to  cover  their 
responsibilities under this directive. 

From 1 May 2013 to 30 April 2022, Slovakia reported four 
occurrences of an imminent  threat and  two occurrences 
of  environmental  damage  under  the  ELD  (one  water 
damage  occurrence  and  one  biodiversity  damage 
occurrence).  During  this  period,  the  Slovak  Environment 
Agency, in co-operation with the Ministry of Environment, 
assessed approximately 50 further environmental damage 
cases  on  a  case-by-case  basis  to  determine  if  they  were 
ELD occurrences. The agency determined that none of the 
cases were ELD cases. In the previous reporting period, no 
environmental  damage  cases  were  reported  under  the 
ELD. 

Slovakia  is  one  of  five  EU  Member  States  that  has 
introduced mandatory financial security for ELD liabilities. 
There  are  no  exceptions  to  the  mandatory  financial 
security  system.  Eight 
insurers  offer  environmental 
insurance policies in Slovakia, which provide cover for all 
ELD  liabilities,  but  only  if  the  environmental  damage  is 
caused by pollution. They do not provide cover for other 
types  of  environmental  damage.  Only  two 
insurers 
provide cover for remediating pollution on an insured site 
and  for  gradual  pollution.  The  only  type  of  insurance  in 
Slovakia  that  satisfies  mandatory  financial  security 
requirements  for  ELD  liabilities  is  an  environmental 
insurance policy, depending on the wording of the policy. 

2025 priority action 

• 

• 

Encourage the use of training programmes provided 
by  the  Commission  (or  developed  at  the  national 
level) covering the ELD and its interactions with the 
other national liability-related instruments, to ensure 
more  efficient  ELD  implementation,  improve  the 
expertise  of  the  competent  authorities  and  raise 
awareness among all stakeholder groups. 

EU-supported environmental capacity building 

The  Commission’s  2023  Compact (198) 
to 
enhance  the  administrative space  identifies  the  capacity 
to  lead  the  green  transition  as  one  of  three  key  pillars, 

initiative 

See  the  European  Commission  web  page  on  Compact 

(198) 
(https://reform-support.ec.europa.eu/public-administration-and-
governance-coordination/enhancing-european-administrative-space-
compact_en). 
(199)  See 

the  European  Commission  web  page  on 

the  TSI 

Slovakia  55 

along with the public administration skills agenda and the 
capacity  for  Europe’s  Digital  Decade.  Compact  also 
recognises the role of the EIR reporting tool in improving 
environmental  governance.  The  two  main  capacity-
building  opportunities  for  the  environment  provided  by 
the European Commission are the TSI (199) and the TAIEX-
EIR  PEER  2  PEER  tool (200).  The  technical  assistance 
available through the cohesion policy is subject to shared 
management and is not dealt with in this subsection. 

The Commission’s technical support instrument 

The  TSI  provides  Member  States  with  tailor-made 
technical expertise on the design and implementation of 
reforms.  The  support  is  demand  driven  and  does  not 
require national co-financing. 

The  TSI  had  annual  calls  in  2021,  2022,  2023,  2024  and 
2025.  The  following  environment-related  projects  have 
been selected for Slovakia: 

• 

Integration  of  environmental  dimensions  in  public 
finances – implementing the ‘do no significant harm’ 
(DNSH)  principle  in  public  funding  programmes; 
beneficiary:  Ministry  of 
Investments,  Regional 
Development and Informatisation (2023); 

•  Revision  and  update  of  the  national  strategy  on 
adaptation to climate change in Cyprus and Slovakia; 
beneficiary: Ministry of Environment (2023); 

•  Building 

for 

policy 

sustainable 
coherence 
development (PCSD) at the central and regional level; 
beneficiary:  Ministry  of 
Investments,  Regional 
Development and Informatisation (2024); 
Support  for  the  preparation  of  Social  Climate  Plans; 
beneficiaries:  Government  Office,  Ministry  of 
Environment (2024). 

The Commission’s TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 PEER tool 

The Commission launched the TAIEX-EIR PEER 2 PEER tool 
in 2017. It aims to facilitate peer-to-peer learning among 
Member  States’  environmental  authorities  through 
workshops  (single  or  multi-country),  expert  missions 
(where a  delegation of  experts travels to the requesting 
institution) and study visits (where a delegation from the 
requesting institution travels to a host country). Flagship 
multi-country  workshops  are  those  requested  by  the 

(200)  See the European Commission web page on the TAIEX PEER 2 PEER 
(https://environment.ec.europa.eu/law-and-

tool 
governance/environmental-implementation-review/peer-2-
peer_en). TAIEX: Technical Assistance and Information Exchange. 

(https://commission.europa.eu/funding-tenders/find-
funding/eu-funding-programmes/technical-support-
instrument/technical-support-instrument-tsi_en).  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
Slovakia  56 

Commission to present new and upcoming environmental 
legislation and policy in all Member States (201).  

•  Measures  to  reduce  air  pollution  in  transport  and 

residential energy (11–13 June 2024); 

Workshops involving Slovakia are as follows: 

• 

in  Europe 
Future  challenges  for  air  protection 
(24 November 2022), in collaboration with the Czech 
EU presidency; 

•  Decentralised  biowaste  recycling 

in  Austria  (9 –

11 October 2023); 

•  New aspects in the cross-border cooperation against 
environmental crime (19–20 November 2024). 

2025 priority action 

• 

Improve overall national environmental governance, 
in  particular  administrative  capacity  to  support  the 
green transition and coordination at the regional and 
local levels. 

(201)  Flagship  multi-country  workshops  in  the  reporting  period  are 
Recast  Drinking  Water  Directive  (3  April  2025);  Environmental 
compliance  and  governance  (18  March  2025);  Planning  of 
Renewable  Energy  Projects  (20  February  2025);  Air  Quality: 
Implementation  of  the  revised  Air  Quality  Directive  (16  January 
2025); Industrial safety awareness raising of emerging risks linked 
with climate change and decarbonation (12 December 2024); Air 
quality: 
implementation  of  the  NEC  Directive  to  further 
mainstream  air  and  broader  pollution  reduction  in  agricultural 
policy  (25 September  2024);  Industrial  emissions  transposition 
and implementation of the revised directive (12 September 2024); 
Noise:  progress  towards  meeting  Member  States’  noise  limit 
values and EU reduction targets (5 June 2024); Best practice use 

of  environmental  footprint  methods  on  the  EU  market  (30 May 
2024);  Sustainable  finance  (9 November  2023);  Textile  waste 
separate collection, treatment and markets (3 October 2023); EU 
environmental  funding  and  support  (13 June  2023);  Advisory 
service for businesses to go circular (24 April 2023); Digital product 
passport implementation (6 December 2022); Public involvement 
in  planning  and  approval  of  renewable  energy  projects 
(17 November 2022); Environmental compliance and governance 
(14 November  2022);  Biowaste  management  (19–20 September 
2022);  and  Renewable  energy  projects:  permitting  granting 
processes (13 June 2022). NB: The first flagship workshop on zero 
pollution for air, water and soil took place on 9 February 2022. 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  57 

Annex 

2025 priority actions 
Circular economy and waste management 
Transitioning to a circular economy 

• 

Speed up the transition to a circular economy by implementing an updated national strategy and the EU 
framework and recommendations, in particular to complement it with upstream circularity measures. 

•  Adopt measures to increase the CMUR. 

• 
• 

• 

• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Waste management 

Invest in waste prevention measures to reduce the total amount of waste generated. 
Implement,  harmonise and gradually increase landfill taxes to phase out  landfilling of recyclable and 
recoverable waste. 
Increase reuse of products and scale up waste recycling infrastructure associated with the higher steps 
of the waste hierarchy. In particular, improve collection and increase treatment capacity for bio-waste. 
Complete the closure of non-compliant landfills. 
Improve municipal waste preparation for reuse and recycling. 
Expand  waste  treatment  infrastructure  associated  with  the  higher  levels  of  the  waste  hierarchy  (in 
particular, increasing the treatment capacity for biowaste and supporting home composting), support 
the  treatment  of  separately  collected  biowaste  and  establish  a  quality  management  system  for 
compost/digestate from biowaste. 
Implement and expand the pay-as-you-throw scheme for businesses and households. 
Improve the data quality management system on packaging waste to present coherent and verifiable 
datasets. 
Ensure  the  achievement  of  the  2025  waste  targets,  following  the  recommendations  made  by  the 
Commission in the early warning reports where applicable. 

Biodiversity and natural capital 
Global and EU biodiversity frameworks  

Submit to the Convention on Biological Diversity an updated NBSAP or national targets following the 
adoption of the GBF. 

Nature protection and restoration – Natura 2000 

Finalise the establishment of site-specific conservation objectives and measures for all Natura 2000 sites 
(including by adopting their management plans) and ensure their effective implementation. 

Recovery of species  

Strengthen  the  integration  of  biodiversity  actions  into  other  policies  (e.g.  on  energy,  agriculture, 
infrastructure  planning  and  sustainable  tourism)  and  promote 
fisheries,  forestry,  urban  and 
communication between stakeholders. 

•  Reinforce action for habitats and species with unfavourable conservation status through, for example, 
restoration measures, increased connectivity, better policy coordination and integration, and increased 
funding. 

Recovery of ecosystems 

• 

• 

Implement eco-schemes and agri-environmental measures and practices to address the environmental 
needs of Slovakia. 
Improve the conservation status of forests by promoting sustainable forest management and ensuring 
compliance with the Habitats Directive before granting/renewing permits for forest logging. 

Prevention and management of invasive alien species  

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  58 

•  Step up implementation of the IAS Regulation, including with regard to enforcement and the capacity of 

inspection authorities. 

•  Ratify  the  International  Convention  for  the  Control  and  Management  of  Ships’  Ballast   ater  and 

Sediments of 2004 (BWM Convention). 

•  Support the development of the national business and biodiversity network. 

Ecosystem assessment and accounting  

Zero pollution 
Clean air 

•  As part of the NAPCP, take action to reduce emissions of air pollutants. 
• 

Ensure full compliance with the current AAQD standards, also in light of future stricter requirements 
under the revised AAQD. 

Industrial emissions 

• 

• 

• 

•  Reduce industrial air pollution damage and intensity. 
•  Reduce industrial releases to water and their intensity. 
• 

Engage with industry and environmental NGOs to ensure proper contribution to and implementation of 
BAT conclusions and ensure timely updates to permits following the publication of BAT conclusions. 
Ensure effective public participation and access to justice in relation to the IED. 

Major industrial accidents prevention – Seveso 

Strengthen compliance with requirements on safety measures to prevent major accidents and ensure 
appropriate preparedness and response in relation to UTEs, in particular as regards reviewing, testing 
and updating EEPs, at intervals of no more than three years. 
Ensure access to transparent and clear information for citizens on risks and behaviour in the event of an 
accident. 

•  Complete noise mapping. 
•  Complete and implement action plans on noise management. 

Noise 

Water quality and management 
•  Develop  more  robust  programmes  of  measures,  tackle  obstacles  identified  in  the  implementation  of 
measures,  and  ensure  adequate  financing  for  implementation,  including  through  better  use  of  cost 
recovery and polluter-pays principle. 

•  Reduce pollution from nutrients, chemicals, metals and saline discharges. 
• 

Improve  river  continuity  and  ecological  flows,  boosting  efforts  on  nature-based  solutions  to  reduce 
hydromorphological pressures. 
Improve the classification of water bodies and strengthen monitoring systems. 
Tackle  nutrient  pollution,  especially  nitrates  from  agriculture,  through  the  implementation  of  the 
Nitrates Directive. 
Take the necessary measures to ensure full implementation of the current UWWTD, taking into account 
the new requirements of the recast directive. 

• 
• 

• 

Chemicals 
•  Upgrade the administrative capacities in implementation and enforcement to move towards a policy of 

• 

• 

zero tolerance of non-compliance. 
Increase involvement in the activities of the Forum for Exchange of Information on Enforcement of the 
European Chemicals Agency, including in the coordinated enforcement projects, called REF projects. 
Increase customs checks and checks of products sold online with regard to compliance with chemicals 
legislation. 

Climate action 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Slovakia  59 

•  As Slovakia had not submitted its final national energy and climate plan (NECP) plan by the end of 

March 2025, the European Commission encourages Slovakia to submit it. 

Financing 
•  Use more national funding (for instance by increasing taxes in favour of the environment and reducing 

environmentally harmful subsidies), EU funding and private funding to help close the investment gap. 

Environmental governance 
•  Make spatial data  more widely accessible and prioritise environmental datasets in implementing the 
implementing 

identified  as  high-value  spatial  datasets  for 

Inspire  Directive,  especially  those 
environmental legislation. 
Ensure  that  relevant  information  on  EIA  and  SEA  procedures  (including  on  public  participation 
opportunities  and  on  publication  of  final  decisions)  is  electronically  accessible  in  a  timely  manner, 
through at least a central portal or easily accessible points of access, at the appropriate administrative 
level. 
Improve  access  to  courts  in  national  environmental  cases  by  the  public  concerned  and  eliminate 
practical barriers, such as length of proceedings and excessive costs in some Member States. 
Ensure correct transposition of the revised EIA Directive. 
Encourage the use of training programmes provided by the Commission (or developed at the national 
level)  covering  the  ELD  and  its  interactions  with  the  other  national  liability-related  instruments,  to 
ensure more efficient ELD implementation, improve the expertise of the competent authorities and raise 
awareness among all stakeholder groups. 
Improve overall national environmental governance, in particular administrative capacity to support the 
green transition and coordination at the regional and local levels. 

• 

• 

• 
• 

• 

2025 Environmental Implementation Review – Slovakia