Bratislava is coming under pressure to explain how it will respond to the challenges of climate change. (source: SME - Jozef Jakubčo)
Bratislava will establish a climate office at city hall as of next year.
Its launch is a response to an open letter from 50 experts and activists criticising the municipality’s approach to the adaptation of the city to the climate crisis, the TASR news agency reported.
The authors write in their letter that the attention paid by the capital’s leadership, including Mayor Matúš Vallo, to adaptation to climate change is not wholly based on expert advice.
“We perceive with concern the information published on the website of the city, which comprises rather impressive slogans and generally formulated promises without specific policies and proposals for solutions aimed at reducing the environmental burden of the city,” the activists and professionals write.
They assert that the city’s policy in this area is non-transparent. For example, they point out that the city does not publish data on the production of greenhouse gases.
Climate office
The City of Bratislava has responded that it is aware of the seriousness of the climate crisis and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“Since the beginning of this year, the new deputy mayor for the environment and climate crisis, Jakub Mrva, has been intensively working on the issue, and from next year we are also establishing a climate office directly at the municipality,” Bratislava spokesperson Peter Bubla said, as quoted by TASR.
The priority of the new office will be, for example, coordination of the climate agenda in the city, alignment of the projects of the municipality and municipal enterprises with the strategic goals of the city, and transparent communication of the topic towards the public.
Bubla noted that the principles of open and transparent discussion are applied in many Bratislava projects with climate implications.
