Slovak Environment Minister Jozef Medved will send a report on creating a Green Investment Scheme (GIS) including the government's insulation programme to American company Interblue Group, Jana Kaplanová from the ministry told the TASR on Tuesday, November 24.
This is intended to be the first step by the government towards qualifying for an extra payment of €1 per tonne from Interblue for the excess Slovak carbon dioxide emissions it sold to the company in a controversial deal. The contract is believed to state that government will receive the further payment if it can prove that the main payment received was spent on green projects.
Kaplanová explained that the goal of the insulation programme is to save energy and improve the heating of housing, which is fully in accordance with the activities supported by the GIS. The Slovak Construction Ministry applied for the insulation programme to be ranked in the GIS on Tuesday morning. Linda Vaškovičová from the Construction Ministry said that the parameters of the Green Investment Scheme were set several months after the insulation programme was passed.
Slovakia sold 15 million tonnes of emission quotas to Interblue Group for €5.05 per tonne. The sale contract also gave Interblue Group the right to buy further excess emissions quotas up to 2012. The deal has been criticised because the price paid to Slovakia is reported to be significantly lower than prices secured in equivalent deals struck by Slovakia’s neighbours, and because of the ownership structure and ultimate beneficiaries of Interblue Group remain unclear.
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
