How Green is the Dragon?

by alicia gough, may 2008

Slovenia ranks 15^th in the 2008 Environmental Performance Index, a global list of countries graded on environmental indicators and policies, so the country can rightfully be called a "green piece of Europe" as recent tourism ads have claimed. But can the same also be said for its capital city?

There is evidence that Slovenia’s capital is not as green as it could be: the Ljubljana City Administration has decided not to apply for the European Green Capital Award. The head of the city’s Department for Environmental Protection, Alenka Loose, says: “We do not intend to candidate for the nomination for the years 2010 and 2011 as Ljubljana is in a phase of great development projects and there is no time to prepare the applications.”

The City Administration, however, is working towards ambitious targets set for Ljubljana’s Environmental Protection Program 2007-2013. Issues that should be tackled are: sustainable mobility, sustainable energy use, and protection of underground water resources.

The Director of the the Umanotera Foundation for Sustainable Development in Slovenia, Vida Ogorelec-Wagner, is unsure of whether the city’s targets can be reached by 2013, in particular the aim to increase non-motorised traffic by 20 per cent, which would first require a reversal of the current trend. Ms Ogorelec-Wagner says: “Transport is the big problem in terms of environmental issues. The government doesn’t promote and hardly stimulates greener transport or energy efficiency.”

But the new mayor Zoran Jankovic seems committed to Ljubljana’s green targets. In February 2008, Ljubljana became one of the 15 capitals in Europe to support the Covenant of Mayors – an ambitious EC initiative that aims to unite the mayors of Europe’s most pioneering cities in making a formal commitment to reduce their CO2 emission by more than 20 per cent by 2020.

Sustainable mobility is key to Ljubljana’s Environmental Protection Program 2007-2013. The city has just 300,000 inhabitants and is within easy reach of the countryside, but emissions of nitrogen oxide are high and PM10 (particles small enough to be inhaled by humans) are above the EU norm. Emissions have risen by 100 per cent since independence in 1991, and this has a lot to do with mobility.

Ljubljana is facing steady traffic growth and an increasing number of commuters. Vida Ogorelec-Wagner believes part of the problem with sustainable mobility in Ljubljana is the contradictory messages from local government. For example, while the city has recently pedestrianised some streets in the old town, there are also plans to build new underground parking in the centre. Another hindrance is the quality and usability of public transport; much of it is outdated, especially the city’s connections with surrounding towns.

The Ljubljana Bike project, run by the municipal government, offers bicycle rentals from various locations in the summer months. The city is also equipped with bike lanes and special traffic lights. The Promotion and Marketing Manager for the Ljubljana Tourist Board, Verica Leskovar, says the project has been even more successful than hoped and last year saw 2,577 people taking part in the project.

New and innovative ways of tackling sustainable mobility are emerging throughout Europe. In April 2007 the Swedish government introduced a new green car bonus programme, announcing it would pay SEK 10,000 (€1,060) in cash to anyone who bought a new eco-friendly car. Scheduled to run until the end of 2009, it is estimated that sales of green cars will increase at a rate of 10 to 15 per cent per year. Because of these pioneering initiatives, Sweden consistently ranks as one of the greenest countries in the world.

While Slovenia is yet to have a green car bonus, the Civitas Mobilis Project in Ljubljana aims to identify renewable and cost-effective energy supplies for transportation, in particular through the use of biofuels. At present Ljubljana has 20 buses running on 100 per cent biodiesel. But as biofuels come under mounting criticism over their negative impact on the environment and global food prices, it is not yet clear how beneficial Ljubljana’s Civitas Mobilis Project will be. In fact the European Commission now looks to be backing away from its insistence on a 10 per cent quota of biofuels in all petrol and diesel by 2020.

Hydropower is another renewable energy source in Slovenia, supplying about 25 per cent of the country’s electricity. But in 2007, a report by the European Commission said Slovenia was far from meeting its renewable energy source targets. Although hydro-power was the principal source of renewable energy, the EC said Slovenia relied on very old and small hydro plants. As a result, the refurbishment of these hydro plants was made part of the government’s renewable energy strategy.

In the same report, the European Commission cited Project SARA in Ljubljana as a good example of a sustainable energy project: “SARA aims to construct six sustainable, cost effective, high energy performance public access eco-buildings that are immediately replicable on a large scale.” The Mercator Centre in Ljubljana was opened to the public on December 4, 2007 and is expected to make a 40-per cent energy saving.

Another energy-saving success is Ljubljana’s district heating (combined power-heat generation). The first power and heating plant by TE-TOL was built in 1968. From the start it was designed as a combined power and heating plant producing electricity, heat and steam. The Head of Public Relations at the Ministry of the Environmental and Spatial Planning, Darija Dolenc, says TE-TOL is achieving an 18-per cent energy saving, which is almost twice the EU target.

But recent reports have shown TE-TOL in a different light. On April 4, 2008, the Slovenian Press Agency reported that preliminary data on CO2 emissions from plants participating in the EU’s Emission Trading Scheme suggested that in 2007 TE-TOL was not only one of the country’s top five polluters, but also exceeded the emission level granted to them by ETA permits.

The Swedish city of Vaxjo has come up with a greener alternative to its combined heating and electricity demands. The city is home to a power plant fuelled by woodchip rather than oil. As well as generating electricity, it also supplies 90 per cent of this Swedish city with heating and hot water. Although Ljubljana is yet to have an initiative like this, Vida Ogorelec-Wagner says: “There are plenty of bio-mass (wood) initiatives in the Slovenian countryside.”

The protection of underground water resources is another of Ljubljana’s environmental priorities for 2007-2013. The city’s water is sustained locally with no artificial pre-treatment. The Ljubljana Tourist Board even goes as far as to say its tap water is as good as bottled. But a report by the European Geosciences Union in 2006 warned that the urban area extended over 80 per cent of the aquifer, presenting many potential sources of contamination.

Recent steps have been taken to protect Ljubljana’s underground water resources. Darija Dolenc says: “The drinking water protection areas of Ljubljansko polje and Ljubljansko barje mean that certain activities are prohibited here, including: the construction of manufacturing facilities, the storage of oil or hazardous substances, waste water treatment plants, golf courses and new cemeteries.”

The Ljubljana Barje – just five kilometres south of the city – is the largest Slovene wetland and has been proclaimed an EU Natura 2000 site. But the Ljubljana Barje has a dual identity; on the one hand a nature reserve home to endangered species, and on the other hand a landfill and waste management site. Approximately 90 per cent of the generated municipal solid waste from Ljubljana and its eight surrounding municipalities is collected by the public company Snaga and disposed of in the Barje area.

The Mestno obcina Ljubljana (www.ljubljanskobarje.si) says: “The cohabitation of man and nature in Barje is slowly coming to an end as human encroachment is becoming increasingly aggressive. Each day new to this environment: residential buildings; intensively farmed land filled with fertilisers of all kinds; rubbish tips and discarded building materials are dumped...”

Since joining the EU in 2004, Slovenia has designated almost 35 per cent of its national territory as part of the European Commission’s Natura 2000 project – the highest of any EU Member State. It has also made significant investments in the Slovenian-Croatian-Italian Commission for the Protection of the Adriatic Sea Waters and Coastal Areas Against Pollution. Slovenia’s environmental concerns seem real enough on the European stage, but what of the message at home?

The green credentials of the capital city seem a little more ambiguous. The Ljubljana Tourist Board has a vision for the city in 2025: Ljubljana will have buses running on hydrogen fuel, there will be a three-fold increase in cycle routes, and 70 per cent more pedestrian areas. But while these green developments are not envisaged for another 17 years, there are immediate plans to make the city more accessible to cars; several underground parking garages in the city centre due to open as early as 2009, which will offer 2,500 new parking spaces. Vida Ogorelec-Wagner says: “The vision for Ljubljana in 2025 is a mix of both green and ‘black’ ideas for development.”

While official plans for Ljubljana’s future may seem misleading or even contradictory, this doesn’t prevent Ljubljana’s visitors and residents from having a huge impact by making daily choices with greener consequences.