Slovakia to End Emission Fund Maneuvers, Return Millions to Factories

Slovakia has amassed a significant sum, nearly 2 billion euros, from the sale of emission quotas, but has largely held these funds in state accounts rather than investing them in decarbonization efforts. This practice has been used to artificially improve public debt statistics.

However, a new European Union proposal to revise the Emissions Trading System (ETS 1), officially presented by the European Commission in July 2026, is set to end this accounting maneuver. If approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, the Slovak Environmental Fund will undergo its most substantial transformation since its inception.

The European Commission is establishing clear guidelines, mandating the fund to become a green investment bank. Under the new rules, factories will only receive funding if they demonstrate real and measurable results in reducing emissions. This contrasts sharply with Slovakia's past approach, where hundreds of millions of euros collected from emission quotas were systematically held back by the finance ministry.

For years, the ministry imposed strict annual spending limits on the Environmental Fund. Any money exceeding these limits remained untouched in the state treasury, serving as a passive reserve. This approach has drawn criticism from industry representatives, including the Club 500 and other employer associations, who have repeatedly pointed out that while the fund accumulated record sums, only a fraction was returned to support the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries. Slovakia lagged behind countries like Germany and France, which typically returned 30% to 45% of emission revenue to their industries, while Slovakia provided only single-digit percentages.