Lithuanian government plans to renovate 1,100 apartment buildings by 2028

Lithuania’s government plans to renovate more than 1,100 apartment buildings by 2028 and raise forest cover to almost 35%. Forest cover stood at 33.91% last year.

The government programme assigns most environmental measures to the Environment Ministry. A revised Forest Law is planned this year. It would provide compensation to private forest owners for a ban on clear-cutting on their land, limit logging in suburban forests and the most valuable protected areas, and change the classification of forest groups.

By the end of 2027, the government also plans to work with the forest-sector community and other social partners on long-term forest policy directions and measures through 2050. A National Nature Restoration Plan is due by the end of next year. Under it, restoration measures should cover at least 30% of degraded habitats covered by the European Union’s Nature Restoration Regulation by 2030.

The government wants all Lithuanian water bodies to reach good status by 2028. In 2024, 63% of the country’s rivers and 64% of its lakes failed to meet that standard. Planned measures include better wastewater treatment, tighter controls on hazardous chemicals entering water bodies and additional efforts to restore river continuity.

By the third quarter of 2028, the government intends to prepare investments in infrastructure for preparing municipal waste for recycling and processing it. Waste rules will focus more on packaging, textiles and biodegradable waste. By the first quarter of 2028, the Environment Ministry must identify key climate risks for individual economic sectors and begin systematically collecting data to strengthen their resilience. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius’s Social Democratic government took office in July.